Covid-19 Food Garden campaign encourages sustainable living

Blue Green South Africa (BGSA) drives their Covid-19 Food Gardens campaign throughout Potchefstroom to help people develop more skills and live sustainably.

This campaign is an initiative that encourages people to create food gardens, which may help them save money.

This project will also help provide fresh produce for poverty-stricken households in Potchefstroom. This is especially relevant during the Covid-19 pandemic, where several people may not have enough money to buy groceries. People receive various vegetable seeds and learn the skills needed to plant and maintain their gardens.

Matshidiso Nokangela from Extension 11 says with the help of Mbuyiselo Jerry Mngxitama, the founder of Blue Green South Africa (BGSA) and her children, she revived her food garden earlier this month, after it collapsed in 2015. Matshidiso and her children learned many things through this experience. They now know how to protect it from birds, and which vegetables to plant in the summer and winter.

She has planted tomatoes, spinach, green beans and onions.

Matshidiso could save money through this initiative as she uses the vegetables from her garden when preparing meals for her family.
“When you take care of your garden, you will be healthy in the end,” she added.

BGSA is a non-profit organisation (NPO) that helps provide seeds and utensils to those from underprivileged households. They also teach people the various methods to use when creating, planting and maintaining a vegetable garden.

Jerry urges people to start food gardens of their own. If they’ wish, they could donate the produce to old-age homes or those in need. Jerry reassures the public that their gardens will be sustainable with patience and investing their time and effort in it.

As the well-known philosopher Maimonides said, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” This is one of the main objectives of the Covid-19 food gardens campaign. For more information or to support this initiative, contact Jerry at 061 180 1385.