First flight, then food
NORTH RIDING – Over 14 000 paper aeroplanes which helped break a world record for KLM Royal Dutch Airlines will now help nourish a food garden at the Mother Of Peace Orphanage.
Over 14 000 pieces of paper may have started as paper planes, but now they will help a forest grow.
Last month the Fourways Review wrote about KLM Royal Dutch Airlines’ 100th birthday celebrations, where the company enlisted schoolchildren from across Gauteng to break the world record for the number of paper planes in flight at the same time, in the article Messages of hope [Week ending 20 September]. But instead of just going into the bin, those planes have now found a new purpose – as compost for a food garden that has been planted at the Mother of Peace Orphanage in North Riding.
On 11 October KLM visited the orphanage to officially open their ‘forest of the future’ food garden on the orphanage grounds. The forest contains a number of fruit trees, vegetables and herbs which will both feed the children who live there and will also be sold to generate an income.
“We started the Mother of Peace Orphanage about 20 years ago,” explained Beverley Olbers, one of the founders. “We have three [orphanages] and this one [North Riding] currently cares for 28 children aged between five and 22 years old.
“Something like this forest is a gift to us. It will have such an impact, particularly [when we can sell the produce] to raise funds. It is a gift from God and we never could have done this ourselves.”
During the opening Wouter Vermeulen, the general manager of Southern Africa for Air France-KLM and and Erik Swelheim, the chief financial officer for KLM globally visited the site and got a tour of the garden from staff from the Food and Trees for Africa organisation, which helped plant the garden and will assist locals to care for it at the start.
The pair from KLM also planted a tree and some herb plants in the garden, which is in the shape of a crown (the KLM logo).
“This is a wonderful opportunity for us to celebrate this [100-year] milestone,” Swelheim told the gathered attendees during the opening. “KLM Royal Dutch Airlines has been around under its original name for 100 years, and for 80 of those years, we have been flying to South Africa.
“It’s nice to look back [on the company’s history], but it’s also important to look forward to the future and to think about sustainability. That’s why this forest is such a good fit.”
The forest was designed by Michael Pierce of Food and Trees for Africa, is currently about 2 000 square meters in size and will hopefully expand as time goes on.
Details: The Mother of Peace Communities Facebook page; Food and Trees for Africa www.trees.org.za
Related Article:
https://www.citizen.co.za/fourways-review/310568/afforestation-project-ethiopia-recently-resulted-350-million-trees-planted-one-day/
