My name is Grace and I’m a GlobalGiving Ambassador by way of Net Impact.  My friend Flavia and I recently took a trip to visit the project listed as “Capacity Building: Urban Farming and Gardening” in Cape Town, South Africa from Nov 24- Dec 4.  This is Flavia’s account of our trip and the last in the series.

By: Flavia DeSouza

Umoja - the Swahili word for togetherness is often used by the African Diaspora worldwide to describe the spirit that unites African people to each other and to their continent.  Ubuntu is traditional African concept which defines a person by their relationships to others and is one of the principles of the new republic of South Africa.

The African spirits Umoja and Ubuntu manifests itself clearly in and throughout Abalimi’s work. Locals gave me a warm welcome into the township community gardens, and chatted with me as if we were long time friends. An eighty-something year old mama strong on the food she reaps and eats from the community garden works daily to share with her family and the families around her. And native to Zambia, visionary and Southern African and white man Rob Small shared a meal with me and shares the podium, as head of Abalimi with his Black, Xhosa speaking African woman.

At the heart of Abalimi’s work is the fostering of a better relationship with the Earth - through healthy green practices and organic farming - and the grassroots economic development of the some of the most economically devastated areas in South Africa - the Cape Town townships.   These are two values, which are traditionally upheld in Southern Africa but which many leaders of today cannot begin to swallow and refuse to invest in.  

Possibly his traditional mores prompted Rob to envision organic farming in city townships as a successful prospect 25 years ago, but against the uneasiness of the time, I don’t know why he had faith in his beliefs. South Africa, 25 years ago, was in the midst of a civil racial upheaval, probably mirroring the Civil Rights Movement of the United States of America, when South Africa most probably was feeling the pain of international divestment.

I am very impressed with his continued commitment and the commitment of his brothers and sisters, many of whom live in dire straights. Their well- attended 25 anniversary celebration, full of singing, chanting and eating of a recently slaughtered goat, highlights how many locals Abalimi has brought together and educated in organic farming.

Abalimi is most certainly a quiet revolution. But, I do have fears for this movement. I fear that in a few years, 25 years of work will disappear. Abalimi seems to be sitting and living largely on the backs of the mamas in the townships - women, in their 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s who work the farms daily. These women are not getting any stronger and need younger counterparts to help them continue and grow this enterprise. I am sure, for a myriad of reasons, personally, locally and nationally, young men and women do not and are not taught to understand the value in urban organic agriculture.

Hopefully, though, if Abalimi persists, especially because of current national   and international greening trends, they will eventually win over young minds and hearts to their revolution reconnect them to Ubuntu and the native African’s respect for the Earth.

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My name is Grace and I’m a GlobalGiving Ambassador by way of Net Impact.  My friend Flavia and I recently took a trip to visit the project listed as “Capacity Building: Urban Farming and Gardening” in Cape Town, South Africa from Nov 24- Dec 4.  This is the third in a series on some of the accounts from my trip.

Friday, November 30, 2007

The reason I went to Cape Town at this particular time of year was because Abalimi starts its summer break in December and their year-end party was Nov. 30. We arrived in the warehouse part of the Abalimi offices where tables and chairs were set up. Speeches and prayers were spoken and dances danced and songs sung by Xhosa women in traditional celebratory garb.  Check out the video!

Abalimi is now 25 years old (just like me!), and I can see just how many people it has touched by the large number of people in the room - gardeners and volunteers alike.  Another video!

I was excited to see the food which was homemade by local women with locally grown Abalimi vegetables.  After I had polished off the lamb, maize, beetroot and rice, Flavia reminded me that the lamb I had just eaten was slaughtered two days before in the very same place we gathered.

I was looking forward to our next stop - Baphumelele in Khayelitsha - because I love kids.  Rosie Mashale is the director of Baphumelele, a well-earned role in her 23rd year of service there. I was pleasantly surprised to have her take Flavia and me on a personally guided tour of Baphumelele.

Months before, I had asked some friends to donate items for me to take to the orphanage.  When she opened the items Flavia and I had brought, she lit up with such enthusiasm and gratitude. She found the box of trial-sized toothpaste funny since she’d never seen such small tubes of toothpaste before.

I was overwhelmed by the number of children - in the buildings and on the street. Rosie explained that she didn’t want them to feel institutionalized or held captive to the orphanage. Also, she knew they would always return to Baphumelele because that is where their meals and beds were.

 Baphumelele had recently received donations to establish a “house” regime to the orphanage, in which a dozen or so children would belong to a house headed by a house mother.  This system would provide a sense of belonging within each house.

One of the most striking images of South Africa that I will take with me is the hospice on the orphanage site. There, a handful of patients were dying of AIDS. I thought to myself, “well it’s nice of Baphumelele to take in sick township people,” as these patients looked like adults or even elderly folk with sagging skin and hobbled steps. But Rosie corrected me, stating matter-of-factly, that those in the hospice were just a few years younger than me - at around age 18.

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My name is Grace and I’m a GlobalGiving Ambassador by way of Net Impact.  My friend Flavia and I recently took a trip to visit the project listed as “Capacity Building: Urban Farming and Gardening” in Cape Town, South Africa from Nov 24- Dec 4.  This is the first in a series on some of the accounts from my trip.

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

We fought rush hour traffic into downtown Cape Town to find Julie at the office of The Business Place (TBP). TBP is a nonprofit consulting organization that helps small business owners to promote entrepreneurship.  I learned that the South African government has adopted the TBP model and has their own version of it called, Red Door, though the two are not integrated currently.

We were then picked up by Rob Small of Abalimi who led us to Guguletu, one of the townships (what they call the slums) where Abalimi works.  I like to think of Guguletu as the gateway to the townships because it’s the first one you encounter when driving west from the city proper.

When I discovered that mostly older women (called the “mamas”) are the gardeners, Rob explained that women and men perceive the gardening differently - men would rather sell all the produce for cash immediately, while women would rather cook the produce for their families and give some to people in need in their communities before selling the surplus for cash.  As a result, adjacent gardens, which are exclusive to men or women, will compete with each other!

I was amazed at the energy these mamas have even in their golden years. The oldest Guguletu mama Gladys is 85 years old! Gladys has 13 children,22 grandchildren and 21 great grandchildren. Dumbfounded, I ask her why no one my age is working in the garden, to which she replies “They are lazy and won’t work.” Rob adds, “They want to be like you, Grace, going places in your car with your cell phone.”

Here’s a video of Big Mama Regina brainstorming with us on how to stop the mole parades through the Guguletu garden.

Abalimi’s newest initiative is called Harvest of Hope. It is a social enterprise where buyers purchase contracts of certain crops. The gardens phone in their harvest inventory, and Abalimi acts a broker to find a buyer - usually an ethical cooperative or a LETS (Local Economic Trading Society). It reminds me of New York City’s community-supported agriculture program, Just Food.

Later that afternoon, Rob drove us through Khayelitsha township, which is one of the larger townships in Cape Town. I was surprised to find economic disparity even within a township. Housing ranged from shanties of corrugated metal sheets and slabs of wood to brightly colored houses with glass windows and gated entryways.

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