Greening project welcomed by Kwa-Mathambo residents

CONTRARY to popular belief, creating a vegetable garden does not have to be an expensive venture, nor does it mean that you need to have acres of land to grow all your own food. Especially when using self-sustaining, organic methods that can keep the soil fertile. Just ask the residents of the Kwa-Mathambo Informal Settlement who were recently given 1 200 square meters to create their very own veggie garden. The project spearheaded by the Greenwood Park SAPS will see a number of vegetables planted, as well as a chicken coup and eventually a soup kitchen. A number of gardening tools were also donated by the station on the day.

On Saturday morning committee members of the informal settlement, members of the station and a local resident met to identify a suitable plot of land. Lizelle Vrey, whose property borders the settlement said she wanted to give back to the local community and donated a piece of land to the cause.

“When the police suggested the idea, I decided I could help out. The crime is terrible in the area and I feel a lot of the theft is driven by people trying to provide for their families and putting food on the table. I decided we needed to look after each other, as a community we need to work together. It’s great to kick-start this initiative because having your own vegetable garden provides more than just food security, it allows residents to share it with other others,” Vrey said.

The settlement is home to more than 700 men, women and children and Ndodeni Dengo, chairman of the Kwa-Mathambo Informal Settlement, has also welcomed the project.

“It’s going to help people, especially the little children at the settlement. The most important thing for us is to have this self-sufficiency. Because nothing tastes as good as a vegetable you’ve grown in your own garden,” said a smiling Dengo. “This is also changing the mindset for us when it comes to our relationship with the police, normally when we see them, our first reaction is to run away. But now it’s fantastic to have their backing and support.”

The project, is the first of three that the station have implemented in order to help the residents explained Greenwood Park SAPS spokesman, W/O Leon Audh.

“The project was suggested by the station commander, Col Mbongeni Mngadi, who wanted to provide residents with a self sufficient means of feeding themselves. Working with neighbours and teaching kids how to grow their own food, naturally and organically can be very rewarding and we hope to inspire that kind of connectivity within the community. The project has been welcomed by residents and they are willing to go the extra mile to make it a success. We will support them in any way we can,” Audh said.