Over the past few weeks the members of the Upstart Youth Development Programme have focused on identifying aspects of their community environments that could be improved.
Over the past few weeks the members of the Upstart Youth Development Programme have focused on identifying aspects of their community environments that could be improved.
In this edition of Enviro News, the pupils have applied their minds to how they can contribute to alleviating these problems, and paid a visit to the Umthathi Training Project in Extension 7.
This week’s column is the result of collaboration between the Upstart Youth, RU School of Journalism and Media Studies teaching assistant Wesley Gush and Dutch volunteer Tim Reysoo.
Next time we’ll feature interviews with Enviro News member Nikki Kohly, and Makana Municipality’s new Parks & Recreation Manager, Jeff Budaza, about their thoughts on the Joza community and the role of school kids in improving their environments.
Changing our community is our number one priority By Thembelihle Libi and Thanduxolo Royi We strongly feel that keeping our community clean is our responsibility as much as the municipality’s.
In the last issue of Enviro News that Upstart put together (3 July) we identified some of the problems, but now we want to share some of the ideas we have to help improve our community.
It is true that some members of the community are not willing to help, but some like the Upstarters try hard to think of ways to improve things.
We would like to suggest that rubbish be collected twice a week, as dumping occurs when it is only collected once a week.
Although the water leaks are a municipal issue and difficult for us to deal with because of limited resources, we think it would be great to have community meetings where people could be educated on how to use water wisely.
They could also learn about health and hygiene, and how to be responsible citizens.
It is important for people in the community to understand the health implications of a dirty environment for them and their children.
It is something that could drive them to take part in caring for their communities.
We do believe that these are things that can be done.
Umthathi Training Project On Wednesday 5 August three members of the Upstart YDP visited the Umthathi Training Project in Extension 7.
This was a chance for the pupils to be exposed first-hand to a grassroots NGO project that is serving a similar community to the ones they live in.
We were shown around by the friendly Xoliswa Morati, who explained that the project’s main goals were to train their members in nutrition, money management, and home-based care.
“The vegetables that are grown here at the centre are for the members to eat, and the ones they grow at home are for them to sell to provide extra income,” said Xoliswa.
Xolani Moagi, who wrote about the virtues of his grandmother’s vegetable and herb garden in the previous Upstart column, offered his thoughts on the project: The Umthathi Project was started in 1992.
They teach people how to plant and water a garden, and also buy seeds which they give to people of the Extension 7 community. They have eight staff members who train people between the ages of 20 and 72, sometimes even older.
It is a very successful project, with 146 members using the dam at Umthathi to water the vegetables and sell it in Joza location. They also teach gardening for free.
The main aim of the project is to teach people to fight poverty and eat healthy food.
Umthathi has created many job opportunities for the people in their community.
When I was there they were very friendly and willing to share with us and show us around the property.
Umthathi (sneezewood in English) is the name of the plant used in the Xhosa culture for making fighting sticks.
Xolani is a Grade 10 pupil at Nombulelo Secondary School.
Find us online: www.grocotts.co.za/environews Contacts for Makana Enviro-News:
