Give a man to fish and he will eat for a day, teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime. The same goes for growing your own vegetables and most especially in South Africa where hunger is a huge issue.

We have just launched our vegetable garden project in Kranshoek and are very proud to announce - “so far so good!”

A total of 13 learners between Gr 6-7 all BIA scholars at Kranshoek Primary have gotten involved and are all very keen budding gardeners in the making. Each learner received a kit consisting of buckets, gardening tools and seedlings to start with. They also started diaries with basic gardening information and a day by day record of how their gardens are progressing.

The main purpose is of course to teach them to grow their own food, but it doesn’t stop there. They are able to manufacture their own compost using organic food waste from their kitchen minimising their refuse. They will also learn how to plant in otherwise discarded items which will promote recycling and there is money to be made in this project. We have two local markets that are willing to sell the produce for the learners. With the cash they will make they can convert it into seed for further planting and so the green cycle will continue. They can also trade their vegetables amongst each other and ultimately build up their own seed banks with excess veggies. 13 might sound like a small group of learners, but remember-all great things start small!