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TAKING HOME THE EARTHCHILD PROJECT |
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6 April 2009 - Late last year the Earthchild Garden Club
facilitators at Sakumlandela Primary noticed that seedlings were
missing from the school’s garden. After a bit of snooping, we figured
out who the culprits were, but we still didn’t know why Kwanele and
Sbusiso, two 12-year-olds in Grade 6 who are otherwise sterling
Earthchildren, had taken the plants. The boys were told to ask for
plants, rather than take them, and the mystery still remained. But the
boys have finally revealed their secret.
Kwanele and Sibusiso, who are neighbours in Khayelitsha Site B, have
both started their own veggie gardens at home! They proudly showed the
Earthchild team around their 4 by 2 metre plots, where they’re growing
tomatoes, potatoes, spinach, celery and lettuce. They’ve already had
their first harvests, and fresh veggies make a daily appearance at
family meals. The boys help each other out in both gardens, and both
are using basic permaculture skills, like planting according to wind
direction, and recycling old tyres and bricks in the gardens. Which we
think more than makes up for their at-first devious ways.
Kwanele and Sbusiso are part of Sakumlandela’s Garden Club, where
they’ve been learning about permaculture gardening from Ben and his
team at Urban Harvest. Urban Harvest have been partnering with
Earthchild at Sakumlandela since August last year, and come in every
Wednesday afternoon to run the Garden Club. Kwanele says he wants to
become a farmer when he's older and dreams of finding a bigger plot in
the community where he could start a permaculture garden and teach
other people in the about growing their own food – though he knows
he’ll need to fence the garden, and he’ll need tools too. Sbusiso says
he’s been gardening since he was 6, but since joining the ECP Garden
Club he’s learnt new skills and expanded his garden. The boys have also
been saving up between the two of them to buy seeds from the shops. To read more about the Earthchild Project and the excellent work being done in our schools, click www.earthchildproject.org
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EARTHCHILD SUPPORTS EARTH HOUR 28 MARCH 2009 |
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Earth Hour 2009 is a global initiative by the World Wide Fund for
Nature which acts as a worldwide call to action to every individual,
business and community to take a stand against Climate Change. To show
your support, sign up now and commit to switching off your lights for
one hour on Saturday, March 28th at 8:30pm. Originating in Sydney,
Australia in 2007, the Earth Hour initiative proved more than
worthwhile when it witnessed 2 million people coming together to switch
off their lights for one hour for this vital cause.
Following on from this success, 2008 saw an estimated 50 million people
taking part. Global landmarks such as the Golden Gate Bridge in San
Francisco, Rome’s Colosseum and the Coca Cola billboard in Times
Square, all stood in darkness, as symbols of hope for a cause that
grows more urgent by the hour.
This year, 2009, Earth Hour will see the lights go out on some of the
most recognised attractions on the planet, including Cape Town’s Table
Mountain, Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro, Merlion in Singapore,
Sydney Opera House, the iconic 6-star hotel, the Burj al Arab, in
Dubai, Millennium Stadium in Cardiff and the world’s tallest
constructed building, the Taipei 101.
Earth Hour 2009 has one major aim: to unite the citizens of the world
in the fight against climate change in order to convince governments
and world leaders that our planet cannot wait any longer. There simply
isn’t enough time, and therefore 2009 is a colossally important, if not
the most critical year, to take action on climate change.
2009 is the year we decide the future of our planet.
www.earthhour.org.za
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