Green hopes for hungry families in Chatsworth

Durban - A Chatsworth man has started a garden project to help poor families who live in his area.

Yaseen Adam, 36, began Legendary Earth in 2020 with the aim of encouraging people to get back to ploughing to fight poverty.

Speaking to the “Independent on Saturday”, he said his intention was to help individuals to learn the skills they needed to be self reliant.

“The country’s current situation is dire. People are unemployed and they struggle to put food on the table. When we started implementing the project, we wanted to focus on teaching children. I believe if we focus more on developing the skills of the younger generation, we will definitely fight poverty and hunger in our communities,” he said.

At early sessions held by Legendary Earth, Adam and his team realised that parents who accompanied their children would get more interested at each one, so they decided to involve the adults as well.

Adam is currently using a plot belonging to a local community church in Quadri Razvi Centre, and aims to get more plots so he can expand the project.

At the moment, his crop is mostly spinach which is harvested and donated to families living in Cheshire village. He also plans to add other fast growing vegetables so he can produce and donate more.

“I don’t sell the harvested greens and my intention is not to make money but to provide support to the disadvantaged families that need help.

“We want to broaden the project and increase plots but the biggest challenge we are currently facing is crime.

“Some of the mischievous residents have a habit of stealing our produce and that is an unfortunate circumstance we cannot control at the moment. We therefore cannot do as much as we aim to do, but we stand strong and will persist,” he said.

The Independent on Saturday