NOT all heroes wear capes, and this was evident at the Virginia Bush Clean-up held on Saturday, 10 December.
Held by Durban North residents at the lower parts of the Virginia Bush, the weekly session sees nature warriors from the community gather to clean the clogged ponds at Virginia Bush Nature Reserve.
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Durban North resident Michaela Geytenbeek, who runs the Kinship Programme, an after-school initiative that facilitates immersive learning in nature for children, said the clean-up was part of their Kinship Programme and is a community initiative that aims to bring life back into the Virginia pond.
“We started off by removing the water lettuce, and the goal is to re-purpose and rehabilitate the bush, as well as provide a space for people to give back to the community. We usually have a session every Thursday between 15:00 and 16:00 – it often runs over because people are enjoying it. It’s been amazing – we’ve noticed more life coming back to it. We’ve created litter booms and segmented the pond because the weeds grow exceptionally quickly, and so we are now just removing segment by segment. We’ve also raised funds to paint the bird hive,” said Michaela.
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The 38-hectare reserve is home to several ponds, which, in recent times, have been affected by invasive aquatic plants that have completely covered three of the ponds in the lower bush.
The floating plants commonly form large mats that clog the ponds and reduce waterflow and oxygen levels, which then threatens wildlife.
“It’s very much about changing the energy in this space. If we change the energy in the atmosphere, we can change what happens in it. We just want to bring people back into our natural space because it’s so beautiful. For our fundraiser fun run, we had over 100 people, which was wonderful. Generally, about 20 to 25 people come weekly, which is really nice, and we thought that we’d do the last one on a Saturday so people who work during the week can also take part. We need help getting more people to come because the more hands, the lighter the load,” she said.
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