Khabazela Village veg garden rooted in success
Through the assistance of several non-profit organisations, such as The Seed Fund and Mission Thando, the veg garden has prospered.
CLIMATE change and the rising cost of living are two of the biggest contributors to the growing food insecurity faced by the underprivileged in South Africa.
These challenges, coupled with the high rate of unemployment, has seen a vegetable garden take root in Khabazela Village near Avoca Hills as an entrepreneurial endeavour, but also as a way to feed those in need.
Through the assistance of several non-profit organisations (NPOs) such as The Seed Fund and Mission Thando, the community of the area began the Khabazela Village Soup Kitchen.
The soup kitchen, which operates out of a shipping container, was the catalyst for the vegetable garden project which began in 2020.
Coordinator of the soup kitchen Dumile Magaqa began sowing the seeds of change in a small plot of land next to the village’s soup kitchen container, and the garden has already begun yielding results with the aim of supporting the area’s soup kitchen which feeds more than 130 children and 75 elderly adults five days a week.
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Magaqa, along with volunteers who help out at the soup kitchen, also hopes to sell vegetables to the community to raise funds for those in need.
In a short space of time, volunteers have planted cabbage, lettuce, potatoes, chillies, green beans, spinach and various other herbs and have now identified a second plot of land which they hope to use to grow their veg-garden footprint.
“A few years ago, with help from the NPOs, Singakwazi Aid, The Seed Fund and Mission Thando, we were able to cultivate our very own vegetable garden to support the Khabazela Village soup kitchen. It was a way for us to become self-sustainable, and it has been an incredible success. We use a small plot of land next to a shipping container, which is our soup kitchen, and it yielded positive results. Initially, the priority was the young children whom we began feeding on a daily basis.
“Unfortunately, we’ve seen the need grow in the last few years due to the unemployment rate and the Covid-19 pandemic. It is thanks to the support of the various NPOs, and a few Durban North residents who’ve shared their expertise on how to keep our garden going, that we’ve been able to feed the community in need. We feed people five days a week, and we often use our own vegetables from the garden for our meals. Last year, we even took seedlings donated by The Seed Fund and began a garden project to help people grow certain vegetables in their own gardens as another way to promote sustainability,” he said.
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Magaqa said they would be willing to sell vegetables to those outside their community to raise more funds.
“If we were given the opportunity, we’d love to showcase our produce at markets. I’ve been fortunate to learn from those who support the soup kitchen on how to grow certain vegetables and the best way to take care of them,” he said.
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