Ntshambili Community Gardens - St Ives Community Orchard CIC

St Ives Orchard supported a community vegetable garden and orchard in Umzumbe, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa in 2021.

This community lives in a rural area and collected all their water from the local river and carried it home in buckets. They do not have transport so they walk miles and miles to buy food from the shops and there is no electricty. They have a local creche that supports about 45 children who also have no water. They also have plans to use the creche facility in the afternoons for adult education classes as some cannot read and others would like to learn new skills.

We raised funds to provide them with much-needed access to water and to provide vegetable seedlings and fruit trees so they could grow their own food.

We set up a crowdfunder and raised £170 //www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/ntshambili-community-gardens.
Together with additional donations we bought a 5000l water tank which costs £235 and was connected to the creche roof gutters so they now have fresh drinking rainwater. Before this they had to collect all their water from the river below and then boil it up before drinking so this will hopefully make a huge difference to them.

Thank you to the lovely local people of St Ives and supporters of the St Ives Community Orchard project who helped us to do this.

Community keen to grow

Location

Simele creche

Ntshambili Community Gardens – how it got started and progressed

written July 2021

About 10 years ago, 3600sqm land was given to them by a wonderful local woman, Mrs Gumede, and the local Chief Ngamzizwe Madlala arranged to have it fenced by the municipality to prevent goats causing havoc.

This communal land/allotment was used for many years by all those who lived nearby to grow their own vegetables. A borehole had been installed in 2005 and the water was pumped up into the tank for their use but sadly this borehole has now fallen into disrepair and hasn’t provided water for many years.

Then the municipality started delivering tap water to the area but never enough water for the communal veggie garden and then at the beginning of 2020, the municipal water stopped completely with no sign of ever returning.

The community had to go back to collecting all their water from the local river using buckets. Not only for their veggies but also for their homes and the creche.
This has been a very difficult time for them as due to the covid pandemic harsh restrictions, many of the breadwinners of this area lost their jobs and with lockdown and lack of water, the community garden dried up too.

Over the last five months however, with some of the young and keen members wanting to help their community and with support of local neighbours, Jenny & Mark von Senger, this community garden has taken on a new lease of life.
The land has been cleared, the raised beds have been made and so far 20,000 donated vegetable seedlings and 24 lemon fruit trees have been planted and thriving.
The reaction of this local community has been overwhelmingly enthusiastic.
They are very excited and have already planted out cabbage, spinach, tomato, beetroot, onions, leeks, peppers and brinjals plus, in smaller quantities, also chilli, parsley, lettuce, basil. Many of the young have been helping the more senior citizens to establish their patch which is very endearing and great to see. They are already picking and sharing the vegetables.
These healthy vegetables provide good nutrition to the local families and the children in the crèche and any surplus, they can sell to provide much-needed income.

Seedlings delivered

Planting our seedlings

Growing and picking

We would like to support this wonderful initiative plus help them have access to water so they don’t have to collect it all from the river.
A couple of specialists in the area came up with the most feasible, robust and affordable idea to harness the rain & river water nearby. And based on their recommendations we would like to try raise money for the following.

Funds needed :

To buy a 5000l water tank which costs £235 and connect it to the creche roof gutters for fresh drinking rainwater (update – we helped with this!)
To install a hand pump concreted into the ground next to the river which has a constant flow even in the dry With this method, water can be pumped up at 2700 litres per hour into the tank that is installed on a high frame then the water will gravity feed down to the veggie garden where 3 taps will be installed.
The cost for the pump, piping, concreting the pump into the ground and attachment to the pipes from the river to the pump and up to the JoJo tank with taps installed will be approx. R15223
To sponsor buying further veggie seedlings, seeds and fruit trees for them to grow their own food and provide good nutrition for their families on-going. Planting high quality seedlings makes a huge difference to the success of the vegetables as they have a much higher survival rate. More Lemon trees but also mango, pawpaw, avocado, nut, guava and banana trees that all grow well there.

Based on exchange rate on 11th October 2021 we need £1500 to support this community in order to provide for this very worthy cause. If we were able to raise any more, we could buy extra tanks so they can store more water and buy more seedlings. They could also keep beehives.

Regular Progress Reports

There are a few people who will keep us updated with progress of the project and send us regular news of how the project is doing.

Bonelwa Mazeka who lives there and has attended a course on Organic gardening and received a certificate is already teaching this group the best organic methods to grow healthy vegetables. She is an amazing woman who has built three houses, one for her Mum, her sister and herself, making every brick for these houses from sand and water, collected from the river. She is passionate about organic gardening and also has taught herself how to keep bees.
Jenny & Mark von Senger who have been providing the seedlings & fruit trees for them so far will send us updates.
Brian Reid who has been a huge support and picks up the seedlings and delivers them to the community garden. Brian also took the photos and has offered his time to teach basic bookkeeping to the key members for this project as it grows and develops.
Elise Langley who helps look after the St Ives Community Orchard. She grew up in this area in SA, knows a few of the people who live there & will keep everyone updated on their progress through a Facebook page.
//www.facebook.com/Ntshambili-Community-Gardens-Orchard-100378032437631/