Kei Mouth Schools

Ikhwili and Siyazahka School Food Garden and Playground Initiative

In 2007, two Cwili schools, Ikhwili and Siyazahka, were designated as “targeted schools” for AIDS orphans and vulnerable children by the Eastern Cape Department of Education. This means that principals and staff have completed training to meet the special needs of children who have become vulnerable as a result of the growing AIDS epidemic and other social problems in their area. In the past two years, Kidlinks supporters, with help from Madison landscape contractors, have made a significant contribution to the Cwili schools. This began with the construction of the primary school playground in 2006, followed by the food garden initiative and sports facilities in 2007. Kidlinks funds the maintenance of the garden and grass cutting around the school, which reduces the risk of fire and makes it a more welcoming place, as local children are scared of the snakes which hide in long grass.

In February 2008, Liza Lightfoot visited the Kei Mouth schools and was thrilled at the results of the food garden. In spite of adverse weather conditions including both droughts and floods, a teachers’ strike that lasted six weeks, and the lack of a dependable caretaker, the garden project is going very well. Last year the school sold much of the produce they grew, using the funds to buy paper and other school supplies. A maintenance budget for 2008 was jointly worked out with the garden committee. The decision to hire a caretaker for three days a week to cut the grass and tend the garden during school holidays and weekends will save money. A commercial grade trimmer was purchased, which is standard-grade equipment for all lawn care companies in South Africa.

September 2009 Update:
Dave Watts and Liza Lightfoot have just returned from the fourth work trip to South Africa. This year, nine students from CalPoly in San Luis Obispo, California accompanied Dave and Liza to work on the projects and to gain additional credit towards their undergraduate Landscape Architecture degrees.

This is our fourth visit to the Cwili Primary and Siyazakha High Schools to help with maintenance of the play ground and food garden that we installed three and four years ago. We saw clear signs that the food garden we helped to develop is a growing concept. The best story that we witnessed was that a group of local residents started volunteering at the school garden. When they saw the results, they decided to develop their own food garden for profit. They have now earned enough to buy a tractor and to build a small house for a caretaker. The principals at the schools complimented Kidlinks by saying, over and over, that this success by the residents was directly borne out of our support and development of the food garden at the Cwili schools. Our work at the school this time was not based around one project, but rather, multiple small projects such as fixing the piping to the rainwater tanks, building a sand box in the playground and preparing some new vegetable beds in the food garden, among other things. The schools hope to be able to feed the children lunch with the produce from the garden.