Window on a green world
Durban - Pupils at the 40-in-a-class Al Ishan Overport Secondary School spend class time with an eye on two worlds: academia as they look frontwards to the teacher and food security as they glance sideways out of the window.
The Al Ihsan non-government organisation has established a vegetable garden as a pilot project aimed at teaching children how to grow food, and hopes to spread it to others schools.
Overport principal Shabier Omar, concerned that so few school leavers get tertiary places or jobs after school, is only too happy to have the mealies, tomatoes and brinjals that the pupils see through the corner of their eyes, pique their interest in the project.
“If you don’t get to study, or get jobs, at least be able to feed yourself,” he told the Independent on Saturday.
Fifteen pupils at the institution that recently had an 85% matric pass rate have been involved in the Garden Patch initiative, as it’s called, since its inception last October.
Lonelisha Murape appreciated that the plants were not subject to chemicals.
Rabia Parker concurred: “I think this project will be beneficial to us in the school especially since it is organic and there are no chemicals involved in growing the garden. I also am excited about the skills we will get from learning how to grow a garden.”
There have already been some lessons through trial and error.
“Snails are a challenge in this garden,” said Nkosinathi Vumisa, who works there as a gardener.
“The heat was an issue with the mealies. I made sure I watered the plants three times a day. I hope this garden will grow and help disadvantaged children in the future.”
Al Ishan’s Ahmed Kathrada said the Overport project, once sustainable, could be replicated at other schools.
The Independent on Saturday