200 trees for Thembalami Care Centre

Thembalami Care Centre received 200 fruit trees and vines from Cummins Filtrations as well as Food and Trees for Africa.

The planting of the fruit trees took place at the care centre on 11 July. Spokesperson for the Rand Aid care centre Cathy Grosvenor said, “Thembalami is blessed with large grounds and has an existing herb and vegetable garden, which is lovingly nurtured by Amon Maluleke, one of the founders of Bambanani Food and Herb Cooperative in the centre of Johannesburg, and a team of Rand Aid gardeners.”

Maluleke volunteered for many months at Thembalami and helped establish the centre’s vegetable garden, before being offered a full-time post as grounds assistant in October 2017.

Grosvenor added, “It was primarily thanks to Amon that Thembalami was chosen as one of Cummins’ CSI beneficiaries.”

Trees and carbon programme manager at Food and Trees for Africa, Emily Jones, said that Maluleke’s involvement with Thembalami and his passion for growing plants and growing people meant that Cummins could rest assured that a dedicated and experienced gardener would be on site for years to come.

“This convinced Cummins that its investment would be taken care of for the benefit of the community. In addition, Thembalami is a well-run centre that serves vulnerable community members,” she added.

“The 80 Cummins volunteers worked really hard to ensure as many trees as possible were planted on the day, in soil that was well-mulched and composted. We are all very excited to visit Amon and Thembalami again and see the trees growing and bearing fruit.”

Thembalami Centre manager Elize Raath said, “Not only did Cummins donate the trees, but its staff members gave of their time to personally plant these trees. Thank you for blessing our garden. We cannot wait for the trees to start blossoming and bearing fruit.”

Details: www.randaid.co.za

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