She crouches down to remove a weed from the walkway – something one would expect a 75 year old to do at her own home.
But there’s something different about Angela Barberton.
She crouches down to remove a weed from the walkway – something one would expect a 75 year old to do at her own home.
But there’s something different about Angela Barberton.
Dressed in a floral dress and sandals she not only bends down to remove the alien plants in her own home, but transports those green fingers to all the neglected spots in Grahamstown, making our city an attractive tourist destination.
With virtually no external funding, Barberton employs Barney Kepe two mornings a week to help her clean up rubbish and build gardens in poorly maintained areas around Grahamstown.
“I do so little. I am always thrilled at how God takes my little contribution and multiplies it a thousand fold,” said Barberton.
Her motivation is rooted in the care that she has for God’s creation.
“I grew up gardening as a little girl in England during the war, when everyone grew food,” recalls Barberton.
She then moved to Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) with her parents where they took on a market garden.
During her teenage years she learnt about conservation and developed a passion for the environment.
From the time she arrived in Grahamstown 35 years ago, she has worked to beautify the Grey Dam Stream, removing wattle and lantana and clearing rubbish left behind by residents and tourists who fail to clean up after themselves.
She has painted the Toposcope on Mountain Drive and cut back vegetation to enhance the view, maintained the area around the bible monument, repaired graves and re-built gardens at the Settler Cemetery and taken continual care of the 1820 Settler Monument and its surrounding gardens amongst other projects.
She bends down to pick up a used condom obstructing the dog walkway at Grey Dam.
“You see this? Barney and I pick these up all the time. We don’t want the children to see them,” explains Barberton.
While she does not directly work with any governmental organisation she is also involved in A Rocha, an international organisation for Christians working in the environment, and the Kowie Catchment Campaign (KCC), which works to care for the health of the community by maintaining the local Kowie/iQoyi catchment and streams.
Barberton says she has appealed to Rhodes University and various schools to undertake projects.
She says that unlike small interest groups, institutions as a wholelack ongoing commitment to such ventures.
“If you are going to change the world the whole school or university has to change its attitude, not just shelve that work for the interact club,” says Barberton.
Barberton’s home appears to be an environmental asset in itself.
Once the gate is opened, it’s easy to notice that her green fingers have been hard at work over the last 35 years.
When she isn’t busy spraying weed killer at the Grey Dam or shovelling in the soil at Settler Monument, she makes jams to sell at the Saturday morning market, attends the Grahamstown Baptist Church and enjoys relaxing with a good Christian book in hand.
In addition she hosts four Rhodes University students in her home, which used to be a bed and breakfast.
Her desire is not only for a cleaner Grahamstown, but a more attractive tourist destination.
“The municipality neglects the city’s ‘hidden assets’ including Mountain Drive and the Botanical Gardens,” remarks Barberton.
“When visitors come they bring their cameras and the photographs they take of our city are used to draw in more tourists.”
Endless clearing and planting is quite taxing on a lady of her age who has undergone numerous onerous projects with little assistance, but her reward is found in nature itself.
“Once we have cleared an area the animals begin to come back and the birds come back. Watching nature is our reward,” says Barberton reflecting on her work.
With her age against her, Barberton hopes to hand over the environmental reigns to different community groups at the end of this year.
“It’s much easier if groups adopt a small area and make it their own,” said Barberton.
She has suggested that bed and breakfasts and businessestake on a space and put up signboards there in order to promote their businesses and encourage more people to take responsibility for their community.
This does, however, require an overall coordinator and ongoing commitment from the people involved.
