Cape Town - Ahead of Garden Day this Sunday, gardeners from around the Cape have come forward to share their passion for greenery and tell how nurturing their green fingers through their own gardening initiatives and community gardens have saved them, their communities and turned their lives around.
Nazeema Jacobs, was on the streets doing drugs and prostitution until the Khulisa Streetscapes’ vegetable gardens, in the heart of Cape Town, took her in and turned her life around. Jacobs ended up at Khulisa about seven years ago.
She was a button smoker with a short fuse that struggled to stay clean but through through nurturing, she began blooming herself and has been clean for two years.
“I have been an addict for about 15 years. In that time I had a very short fuse, was involved with gangs, sold drugs and even worked as a prostitute. I am not ashamed of anything, because I learnt a lot from it,” Jacobs said.
She has now taken on an admin at the garden and believes it was gardening that opened up a brand-new world to her and changed her for the better.
Geronimo de Klerk founded the Feed the Future For Life organisation with his elder brother, Valentino, shortly before level 5 lockdown was announced, to teach communities and youngsters in and around Elsies River how to establish their own gardens in the backyard.
They now supply feeding schemes and soup kitchens in the crime- and gang- ridden area.
De Klerk said the people around his community suffered as there was no work and the morale was sometimes low, but he could not sit back and watch people fall apart, especially the drug abuse that had young people in its grip.
Another person saved through his passion for gardening is Siyabonga Stengana, from Mbekweni.
Stengana lost his job in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic. He he ran golf clinics, teaching children to play golf, when he had the idea to clean illegal dumping sites with a friend in his community and turn them into gardens and recreational areas for people to enjoy.
They have transformed 40 illegal dumping sites.
“We literally walked door to door, asking people for help with equipment, paint, and so on. We picked up the litter and used wheelbarrows to take it to drop-off sites. Some of it could be recycled, while the green waste was converted into compost for our plants.
“When the community realised what we were doing, volunteers offered their services,” Stengana said.
Those interested in finding out more can visit https://gardenday.co.za/ and explore the different ways to celebrate gardens, big or small, this Sunday.