Vegetable garden comes to life at Westdene Recreation Centre
WESTDENE – A group of volunteers work hard to create a vegetable garden for the community.
A resident’s brainchild has inspired volunteers to work together for the betterment of their community.
The Westdene-Sophiatown Residents Association (WSRA) chairperson, Dauw Steyn said former Westdene resident Lizz Meiring initiated the idea to create a vegetable garden with the help of the association.
The association now assists Meiring and have now taken over the project.
“The vegetables will be going to the Eeufeess Old Age Home. There’s a place called Kinds Like Confetti who cook for the residents on a weekly basis.
“So we will supply them with the vegetables. The Westdene Recreation Centre has a creche for less privileged children who will also benefit from the garden,” said Steyn.
Photo: Supplied
He said the garden is maintained by a group of volunteers.
“There are some residents who are knowledgeable about gardening who give insight on what to plant and how to do it. The garden includes spinach, cabbage, tomatoes and pumpkins.
“We’ve also secured a meeting with MEC for Health and Social Development Mpho Phalatse to give us advice and see where the City can assist us.
In terms of our future plans, we had a meeting with City Parks who would like to utilise this garden to train the poor and upskill them on urban farming. The dates are still yet to be finalised.”
He said the vegetables, which are still in the stages of growth, will be provided to the beneficiaries next month. The Department of Agriculture donated items to us such as gardening tools, seeds, top soils and also brought a tractor just before we launched the garden.
Part of the development portfolio, parts of the recreation centre will be developed with the aim of employing someone to take care of the garden.
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