Capacity Building: Urban Farming and Gardening
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Updates from the Field:
Updates from the Field (or Progress Reports) on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.com by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
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Index of Updates from the Field
November blessings and thanks!
By Rob Small - project leader, November 13, 2008 06:37 PM
Hello Dear Friends of Global Giving!
In late October I received notice from Manmeet Mehta of Global Giving that 6 people and one organisation had together donated $2,864.85 during August and September !!! This is the largest amount yet and comes to a whopping ZAR 28730.00. That is a LOT of training and resources to our emerging farmers. Thank you so much.
In the meantime, please take a peek at our refreshed website on www@abalimi.org.za and also our latest newsletter attached!!
All the very best to you and yours for the Christmas period. We at Abalimi will be continuing in our fields and gardens in support of the poor- who will celebrate Christmas with LOTS of healthy fresh food as part of the festive treat!! And, of course, good farmers seldom go away from their land for long!!
All the very best
Rob
for ABALIMI
Attachments:
June donations, deposited in July
By Rob Small - project leader, September 10, 2008 04:58 PM
Dear GlobalGiving Friends - six of you have donated a total of USD 466.84 in May and June, which was deposited into the ABALIMI account in late July 08. Some of you donated more than once!! Your Dollars translate to many more Rands- over R3000 in this case!
This is just to say thank you - your help and support and interest is more than the money you give, but the money represents this, and carries with it enormous powers of encouragement and blessing! Right now more poor people are being trained to grow fresh food sustainably because of you.
I am working on our next Friends newsletter, which will be full of pictures and stories. I will post this for you on Global Giving as soon as it is available- probably in early October.
All the very best- Rob Small
February and March news and thanks
By Rob Small - Mr, May 18, 2008 08:28 PM
Hello again!! Sorry I have taken so long to post another report.
I want to say a big thank you to all those donors who have given over USD700 in March and April. I cant quite believe it and am very grateful indeed for your interest and support. Please remember that if you want to communicate directly with me, all you have to do is say so, by e-mailing directly to me at info@abalimi.org.za. Please dont forget to state who you are and that you have come via GlobalGiving. I will be delighted to correspond. The GlobalGiving privacy policy quite rightly prevents any project leader communicating directly with you unless you request it.
Its been hectic in ABALIMI lately. Since February 08 we launched our new Harvest of Hope flagship initiative and it is pumping! The community farmers AND the clients are all galvanised by it and we are growing the scheme shortly to supply over 200 organic boxes every week because demand to join (from both sides) is so strong. I attach an updated brochure on Harvest of Hope for your interest.
Of course, everything is about training- for example- each time we contract a new farmer, we are training him/her at the same time about contracting.
So your money is being well spent.
I am also attaching a nice article written on ABALIMI recently by the Organic Gardeners magazine in Australia and New Zealand. Do take a peek, its nicely done and speaks about the social benefits of what we do in ABALIMI, which to my mind are the MOST improtant.
I also want to point out that SEED has gone independent of ABALIMI (which is great- they are getting strong) and now have their own offering in GlobalGiving. I nominated them ! I have yet to update ABALIMI's offering to this effect because it means a complete re-write of the ABALIMI offering which I find daunting. But if you want to support SEED specifically, please do go direct to them, they will love you for it!! Of course, ABALIMI passes their portion of any donations from you on to them in the meantime.
Lastly I want to say a HUGE thank you to the GlobalGiving staff (Siama and Dana in particular) for all their hard work to make such a special interface possible and workable. Its always improving and I know they literally work their hearts out to make it so. They are dedicated and wonderful and helpful people.
So, until next time, I suggest that anyone out there who is not growing some healthy organic vegetables in pots on their windowsill or in soil direct, why dont you get going? You will experience a miracle which will make you strong, alive and best of all really "connected".
Green and growing greetings!
Rob Small
for ABALIMI
info@abalimi.org.za
www.abalimi.org.za
P.S. I have also attached an "Abalimi Overview" which gives another take on our work. May be useful.
Attachments:
Thank you for December 07 donations
By Rob Small - resource mobilisation manager, February 25, 2008 01:23 PM
Dear friends, I attach a thank you letter to those who donated over 600 USD via Global Giving in December 07. Along with the letter I attach a brochure on Harvest of Hope, our new "farmers market" scheme, which is the result of all that good training we can give to the farmers because of your help!
Many thanks, once again. Rob Small- for Abalimi Bezekhaya (Planters of the Home)
Attachments:
Grace and Flavia come to visit!
By Rob Small - Resource mobilisation leader , December 03, 2007 05:48 PM
Hello everyone and also to all of you who have contributed to Abalimi because of Grace Wong! Just to let you know that she and Flavia (her friend from her church community) came and visited Abalimi. She says she will report back to you as soon as she gets back to the States. It was really good to meet Grace and show her around a bit. She should have quite a few photos to share with you! She visited a few of the community gardens and also attended our 25 Year Birthday celebration, where over 200 community gardeners and micro-farmers came to enjoy an end-of-year meal with the staff of Abalimi!
Secondly, I am posting a brochure for you to read about an exiting new initiative, which Abalimi is launching called Harvest of Hope. Harvest of Hope is very much a capacity building initiative, as well as a social business, so it fits in perfectly with our current project. Its a pdf file and I hope it shows up on the GlobalGiving website ok. If not, please let me know.
Thirdly, I am posting a couple of articles I wrote, which appeared in a couple of national and international publications. Hope you can access them and hope you find them interesting!
This may be the last you hear from me in 2007, although it is possible that I may get a chance to post another update before Christmas. If not, I wish you all the very best for Christmas and for 2008.
As ever
Rob Small
Attachments:
Thank you, September 07
By Rob Small - resource mobilisation leader, October 01, 2007 05:24 PM
Dear Friends
I have just recieved notice from Dana Ledyard of Global Giving that USD 299.54 is being transferred to our project. This amount has come from 9 donors and will be enough to train at least two people in organic micro-farming and working with kids in the outdoor classroom, who in turn will affect the lives of many hundreds.
If any of you would like to check out our latest Friends Newsletter (# 34), please go to www@abalimi.org.za and read for yourself the results we are getting. If you would like a hardcopy, please send me your request and postal details to info@abalimi.org.za ! I will post you a hardcopy and thereafter you will get a Friends Newsletter in the mail twice a year.
It is a very special and wonderful thing that you, who live virtually on the other side of the planet, care enough to put their own money into our work. This is deeply inspiring to me!
Thank you one and all!!
best regards
Rob Small
P.S. One of you, Grace Wong (hi Grace!), is coming to visit us in November. I and the rest of the team are looking forward to meeting her. Perhaps she will also post a report on her experience afterwards!
News - June 2007
By various authors - A day tour with the fieldworkers, July 05, 2007 05:03 PM
Being a freelance photographer, Kate Pesendorfer had the opportunity to join Vatiswa Dunjana and Liziwe Stofile, two urban agriculture fieldworkers from Abalimi, on a day tour to see their trainees. I had the privilege to meet six extraordinary people, who inspired her. Rob Small, Resource Mobilisation Manager and his crew, showed her through their work – how they not only train people but how the seeds they plant are nurtured by them.
Lucky strikes luck in ‘Garden Eden’
Coming from a farm in a rural area of the Eastern Cape, unemployed Lucky Solofute (28) was diagnosed with TB. After his treatment at Phumlani clinic in the township Philippi in Cape Town, he found out he was also infected with AIDS.
One day, he saw an old lady working in the garden of the clinic. Lucky felt sorry for her and wanted to help Maggie with the strenuous work. Reaching out a helping hand to Maggie, Lucky started working voluntarily in the garden for two months. Maggie retired and Lucky gladly took over her duties. Fresh air and eating his own planted vegetables, says Lucky, are supplements to his medication. Exercise makes him feel strong and confident instead of sitting at home, which makes him tired. He reports health benefits and strength. The clinic helped Lucky to receive a government grant for his HIV sickness and he in turn supports his sister and her three children. The produce of the garden is used for his own needs, his sisters and the people at the clinic.
Lucky enjoyed a four-day course with Abalimi, where he learned to manage and fertilise soil properly. In the Eastern Cape, you can only plant during the rainy season, whereas in Cape Town, crops can grow continuously. Lucky is now supported by the NGO Ikamwa La Bantu with R600 monthly, which might last until he is self-sufficient and has his own business. Lucky’s dream is to extend his space at the clinic garden but the others, who have the other part of the ground, won’t let him – he doesn’t give up.
One plot – two stories
At the crèche ‘Kumbulani Educare’, in Section I, in the township of Khayelitsha in Cape Town, a social development scheme has been initiated by ‘old’ people to utilise space to create a garden. Senior citizens were advised to find a location for this garden. This project was started in 2005 by Ikamwa La Bantu and Social Development (?).
Vuyisile Qotoyi (67), a member of the old-age group, says old people should not sleep all day but exercise. Vuyisile thrives on working outside, exercising and staying healthy. He joined in 2006 and did a course with Abalimi the same year. He loved learning how to work with vegetables. Melons and pumpkins were, at the time, all he knew from farming in the Western Cape. Vuyisile is so proud that, beside the garden at the crèche, he has his own at home. Vuyisile’s wife is unemployed and he supports four. He receives a pension from the government and is hoping for a stipend (from Ikamwa La Bantu).
Mzukisi Vokwana (50) is the ‘doctor’ of the garden – he wears surgical gloves at work. He always wanted to plough and when Mzukisi came in 1985 from Port Elizabeth to Cape Town, he fulfilled his dream. In 2005 the founder of the crèche recruited Mzukisi and today he is one of the two main co-ordinators of the garden. Six men and one woman work the garden, which belongs to them. The produce is for their own usage, parts of it is given to the crèche, the old-age home and the rest is sold to HIV/Aids. They raise between R 50 to R100 with the sales. None of the group is infected but they are all affected by the garden in being able to produce for their own livelihood.
Mzukisi did a course with Abalimi and is proud to work his first own garden. He loves eating his own fresh veggies.
Thank you letter to donors
By Rob Small - resource mobilisation leader, March 20, 2007 02:27 PM
Thanks to all donors who have supported ABALIMI to date
Attachments:
Abalimi Agriplanner Training Has Amazing Results
By Shirley Dunn - Ms, April 26, 2006 05:19 PM
Abalimi has been making use of the Agriplanner Board Game, developed by the South African Institute for Entrepreneurs, to train both literate and illiterate gardeners about agricultural business. The training has been most successful, with Mrs Bokolo’s story demonstrating some of the amazing benefits of this training.
Mrs Bokolo, who continues to grow her own vegetables at Nolukhanyo Educare Preschool, has taken her new knowledge from the Agriplanner further than Abalimi had anticipated. Mrs Bokolo attended the Agriplanner training in July 2005, and she says that she uses the marketing tools that she learnt from the Agriplanner training in her own bead business. Since having done the Agriplanner training, she has gone to Claremont, Newlands and Mowbray to market her crafts herself. Her efforts were rewarded with business contracts from two shops for which she has to produce a certain amount of crafts every month.
Through the Agriplanner training, Mrs Bokolo has learnt a number of important business skills. These include how to reinvest money back into her business, to structure her money carefully, and that it is very important to meet deadlines for orders.
As a single mother, the money that Mrs Bokolo makes from her bead business is used to send her children to school and to buy groceries and furniture for her home.
Vegetable Gardens Assist AIDS Support Groups
By Shirley Dunn - Ms, April 26, 2006 05:14 PM
Abalimi is supporting members of HIV/AIDS support groups to establish and maintain their own vegetable gardens. Vegetable gardens of this nature are currently flourishing at the Guguletu Health Clinic and the Philangetemba Khayelitsha Hospice.
In the corner of NY1 and NY3 in Nyanga, you will find beds of lush green vegetables within the premises of the Guguletu Health Clinic. This garden is run by the members of the HIV support group, Sakeka, and supported by Abalimi.
The six gardeners at Sakeka all share the status of being HIV positive. Their community garden is a safe environment where they can help each other to cope with the repercussions of being HIV positive. Through gardening, the Sakeka group are empowering themselves to tackle the devastating health affects of their illness. As project member Mxolisi Nimrod Gwele said, “My health has improved from the nutritious vegetables and exercise I get from my gardening.” The energy and spirit that these individuals have shown is truly inspirational.
Philangethemba, otherwise known as the Khayelitsha Hospice, is a support home for HIV positive people in the third and fourth stages of the disease. The Philangetemba vegetable garden is only three months old, but Pinky Ciya, the social worker, is very excited about the benefits that it has already given to the members of the support group.
In Philangetemba, the support group members participate in the gardening every Tuesday. “We use the vegetables from the garden to provide the support group with a meal when they come to visit, and members of the support group can also take some vegetables from the garden home with them,” says Pinky. “Nutrition plays a very important role in the treatment of AIDS and this way the members are learning the skills to start their own gardens at home.”
“Working in a garden helps the members to learn about team work.” Pinky says, “In this garden, everyone follows the motto EACH ONE TEACH ONE.”
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