Miss Earth South Africa team rejuvenated a Kliptown Vegetable Garden recently, in the hope to empower two residents with enough produce to be able to sell and add to their vegetable patch.
“We don’t want to just add to your today, we want to add to your tomorrow. This rejuvenation project in Kliptown Soweto, is not just about building or adding to a vegetable garden it’s about providing an opportunity for growth; growth of a community through food security,” said Ella Bella, the director of the Miss Earth South Africa Leadership Programme, at the opening of the vegetable garden.
Kliptown is a forgotten area of Soweto, yet it is right across from the Walter Sisulu Square, where historically, on 26 June 1955, the Congress of the People, met to draw up the Freedom Charter. The Freedom Charter embodies the ethos of the country where human rights are upheld, where the people shall govern, it speaks of a non-racial society, liberty and individual rights. The Charter forms part of Constitution formed in 1996.
Across from the square that embodies our human rights, equality and justice we are faced with the stark reality of a society without electricity and running water; a forgotten community. Over the railway tracks and into this informal settlement, stands the oldest residential district of Soweto. Despite it all, there lives a beacon of hope and her name is Pricilla Nkqwili. She has created opportunities for a group of elderly ladies called the ‘Kliptown Gogos’, to stitch, croquet and quilt different items like aprons, picnic blankets and other items to sell. Skin Renewal branches in Bedfordview and Fourways have supported this group of women; and now this vegetable garden, enables their growth and development for the sustainability of tomorrow.
Through the work that Pricilla and her team; namely Tshepang and Percy; have implemented they have been able to establish a veggie garden with healthy produce. The Miss Earth South Africa Leadership Programme has taken on this garden to support and share skill development, with the objective of developing this garden to a level of subsistence farming which can then produce for the community.
The support from our partners Skin Renewal, Brand South Africa, Department of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment, Lifestyle Garden and Home, Plastics SA, AST Recycling and Interwaste Environmental Solutions, have made it possible for this project to develop to the next level. It’s not just about a vegetable garden it’s about creating opportunities and the possibility to prosper.
Miss Earth South Africa 2021, Nompumelelo Maduna is taking part in the online International Miss Earth. Part of the requirements of being a Miss Earth South Africa is to galvanize a community project where they create sustainability and greening in different communities.
Maduna will be announced as a Brand South Africa, Play Your Part Ambassador, later this year. She will continue to work in communities and inspire others to be active citizens and to play their part both in the social and environmental spheres of society. Both Ella Bella Leite and Catherine Constantinides; the directors of the Miss Earth South Africa Leadership Programme are both Play Your Part Ambassadors and are walking the walk, taking the talk and growing and greening wherever they go
