Local security guard uses gardening skills to help support needy families
BERTRAMS – He continued his duties as a security guard at night and worked in the food garden during the day.
Amon Maluleke could not stand by when he spotted a lone woman growing vegetables on a small patch of an abandoned bowling green next to Ellis Park Stadium in Bertrams, Johannesburg, 10 years ago.
He had grown up in Limpopo where agriculture was included as one of his subjects in primary and secondary school.
“Seeing the woman reminded me of my upbringing and education, and I said to myself I must use my knowledge to contribute to developing this food garden,” he recalls.
Maluleke soon learned that the bowling green was on municipal land and that the City council had permitted the development of a food garden as part of a poverty alleviation project in an inner-city suburb that had fallen on hard times.
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Maluleke, who was employed as a security guard in Bertrams, therefore approached the City council to volunteer his services in the development of a food garden that would cover the entire bowling green, an area of about 5 000m².
The City council contributed what he calls a ‘starter pack’ consisting of such items as tools, seeds, watering cans and a hosepipe.
He continued his duties as a security guard at night and worked in the food garden during the day with occasional help from locals, but they would soon lose interest in the project, leaving Maluleke to work largely on his own.
From time to time, private companies made donations to the food garden, such as irrigation equipment and organic fertiliser.
As the garden developed, Maluleke started selling fresh vegetables to the local supermarket, residents in the area and at weekend food markets.
He used the income to develop and maintain the food garden and to pay casual labourers as well as a small amount to himself.
With his wife and four children still living in Limpopo, he found other work to sustain himself and his family when he was no longer employed as a security guard, while all along developing and maintaining the food garden and selling the produce.
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However, by early last year – close on 10 years after he started the food garden on the old bowling green – he found himself needing a more secure source of income and accepted a job to establish and maintain a food garden at the Thembalami Care Centre old age home close to Alexandra township in Sandton.
He was in the fortunate position that he was able to make the move with confidence that the Bertrams food garden would continue to thrive.
“What made this possible was that a lady called Refiloe Molefe had been working with me for some time, and with the help of her children she is able to continue maintaining the garden,” Maluleke explained.
His new food garden now supplies fresh produce for residents of the old age home, but Maluleke also wants to develop it into an education hub where he can teach people from local communities and schools to grow their own food.
“Food gardening is very therapeutic and provides a new challenge every day,” says Maluleke, “but most importantly it is a way to alleviate poverty and unemployment. Gardening can empower people with skills to grow their own food and even start a business and create jobs. It’s a wonderful thing, gardening.”
Details lisa@gardenday.co.za or 084 553 4629.
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