A Week in Review: Tower Vegetable Gardens and Exciting News

Good day, Ubunye Family!!

Welcome to our weekly roundup on the blog where we take a look at what happened during the week from the eyes of our social media representative.

This week has been filled with admin, with each day bringing its own learning opportunities, but be sure to read to the end to hear our exciting news!!

At the heart of it all (as always) – community leadership!!

Monday

I started off this week speaking to Lungiswa, our Sinako Field Officer. She spent the week assisting different Early Childhood Development (ECD) Centres with their Tower Vegetable Gardens (TVGs) and I want to take you guys through was it is all about.

As I have mentioned in a previous blog, the TVGs that are being grown in the ECD centres around the community are a reminder of what it means to be resilient and sustainable as a community and we all can learn to grow, not only as individuals but together. These TVGs provide three key life giving services to the community.

They ensure each learner’s lunch is full of home grown goodness, they ensure the villagers have access to the surplus veggies and seedlings, and the income made from selling this produce ensures the ECD Centres can buy extra food stuffs they cannot grow.

Before a community can reap the rewards of all their hard work, they first have to ensure the seedlings are in good condition and are growing well before it is planted. The initial stages are always the hardest ones because without a good foundation, the entire vegetable garden is not going to succeed. So, our team gives technical assistance to the different ECD Centres to make sure their TVGs are thriving. On this day, Glenmore received some assistance to make sure their seedlings were looking good and were planted correctly.

Tuesday

 With the existence of TVGs, also comes the maintenance of them. This can often be difficult seeing that we are in a water scarce area. So every so often, our team checks in on the ECD Centres that have TVGs to ask them how they are doing and what challenges they are experiencing.

It is always good to have clear communication so  both we and the ECD Centre know how to move forward.

Lungiswa and other Sinako Programme Working Group (PWG) members in Pikoli often get together to work with their respective ECD Centre to create these sustainable and resilient TVGs to ensure food security not only at the ECD Centre but also in the village. The PWG members discussed what works, what does not and what changes are needed to ensure the TVGs grow well and flourish.

Plants require a lot of attention and love, and ensuring they are well taken care of can be time-consuming and a lot of hard work, but it is so worth it in the end when you see how they can sustain both yourself and your community. Making meals and eating fresh vegetables that you helped grow is something special and it tastes so much better knowing how healthy it is.

Wednesday

As we moved to the middle of the week, I learnt just how these TVGs are created. We know they start off with seedlings and we know how they are maintained afterwards, but let us take a look at how they are actually created.

Lungiswa, who you are now familiar with, offered her assistance to ECD practitioners and parent body members in Mgcamabele to help them create a TVG at their centre.

We start off by cutting the green mesh that will be used as a barrier to hold the soil within. A lot of the vegetables are also planted along the sides of the mesh. The seedlings are then planted into the soil and watered. The rest is a waiting game, along with a lot of sun and water, and love.

Feeding the community one TVG at a time!!

Thursday

Like I had mentioned previously, I had planned to post another blog looking at the Ikamva Lolutsha Life Skills Programme after speaking to our Training Officer, Lime Badu, who happens to be a wonderful and very insightful and helpful individual – she’s always a pleasure to talk to and always bring a smile to my face. This blog was posted today and is a very good and insightful read on the programme. As a quick recap, the Ikamva Lolutsha Life Skills Programme is about young people and their futures. The Ubunye Foundation partners with young people and assists them in following their dreams by creating life plans that they can work towards and by supporting them to achieve their goals. Through the Ikamva Lolutsha Life Skills training, young people are encouraged to think and dream of the future they want. The Ubunye Foundation team then assists them in creating a life plan to work towards that dream. These life plans could be to have their own business, finish their studies, or work towards a career, whatever it may be, the Ubunye Foundation is there to give them the skills and support that they need to achieve those goals – but you should definitely click on the link for the Ikamva Lolutsha blog on our website and read all about it!!

Friday

Time for some exciting news!!

The Ubunye Foundation is going to Germany!! Our paper on the Ubomi Bethu Project has been accepted for the AIDS 2024 Conference in Munich and our very own Bulelwa and Ayanda will be presenting. The Ubomi Bethu Project is funded by ViiV Healthcare, a community-led initiative addressing HIV prevention and young people. It is special because it is led by young women attending secondary schools in Ngqushwa Municipality in the Eastern Cape – they designed it, manage it and monitor it. Community leadership at its best!!

Conclusion

This week has been a blend of hard work, learning more about TVGs and finding out about some pretty exciting news. Each day brought its own set of joys, contributing to a week filled with learning. As we look forward to the next week, let us carry forward the enthusiasm that made this week so great.

Thank you for joining me on this journey through the week’s activities. Stay tuned for more adventures and insights in the next post!!