Cape Town-151102-Craig Van Rooyen and Dyrone Clark studentes from Beacon School for LSEN in Mitchells plain-Picture by BHEKI RADEBE-Reporter Ray Wolf Cape Town-151102-Craig Van Rooyen and Dyrone Clark studentes from Beacon School for LSEN in Mitchells plain-Picture by BHEKI RADEBE-Reporter Ray Wolf
Raphael Wolf
A PILOT vegetable garden project at a Mitchells Plain school for pupils with special needs has been so successful the organisers have been invited to supply fresh fruit and vegetables to the Cape Town Market in Epping.
“In addition to supplying the market, the biggest and oldest in the province, our produce is also on sale at the Ethical Co-op in Pinelands,” said Magdalene Adonis-Campbell, who heads the project at Westridge’s Beacon School for Learners with Special Educational Needs (LSEN).
Established in March, the garden has already been praised for the high quality of its organic products.
Adonis-Campbell said 25 pupils from the school’s two Grade 12 classes had been trained at the Mitchells Plain Skills Centre to tend the garden.
“I want to start a local market facility where we can accommodate vendors who sell mainly organic products,” she said.
LSEN teacher Joan January said the aim of the project was to teach pupils to be self-sufficient.
To help realise this, Adonis-Campbell is teaching them how to start compost production, plant and nurture the fruit and vegetables and sell their produce.
“It’s a vital part of developing our pupils holistically. Some of the produce is given to needy pupils, residents and soup-kitchen operators in the area,” she said .
Colleen Daniels-Horswell, chairwoman of the Mitchells Plain Education Forum, said the garden project flowed from Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande’s visit to Mitchells Plain last year, in which he commented on the area’s high unemployment rate.
As a result, the forum, together with the Khayelitsha Education Forum, the Agricultural Sector Education and Training Authority, Boland College, Mitchells Plain Skills Centre and Beacon School LSEN had collaborated to provide agricultural and other coaching for trainers and pupils, enabling them to establish and run the Beacon garden and other projects.
Raphael.Wolf@inl.co.za