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A vegetable garden has been planted at Batsogile Primary School, one of six on the cards, to help provide jobs and nutrition.
TWELVE-year-old Paki Mofolo is painstakingly tilling a small piece of land with a hoe in the backyard of Batsogile Primary School, in Klipspruit, Soweto, where he is enrolled as a Grade Five learner.
Under the heat of the scorching spring sun, Paki diligently removes the weeds from the soil to prepare it for cultivation. This, before a contingent of WesBank employees can plant an assortment of vegetables, including onions, tomatoes, spinach, cabbages and lettuces.
Batsogile Primary School pupils prepare a bed of veggies for planting
Every so often, young Paki glances obliquely into the suns rays, simultaneously wiping the sweat from his brow. He doesn't seem tired, as he designates different tasks to his fellow learners.
"I love gardening. Even at home we have a nice garden of flowers and a lawn which I water before I rush off to play with my mates," Paki relates with a smile, adding that he has an avid interest in both agriculture and permaculture.
Batsogile is one of the six primary schools in Soweto chosen to benefit from a garden project spearheaded by WesBank, the asset finance specialist, as part of the WesBank Soweto Street Race corporate social investment programme.
Through its corporate social investment, WesBank helps to plant vegetable gardens in underprivileged communities in an effort to create jobs for locals and to raise awareness about the harmful effects of carbon emissions.
Giving back
George Nyabadza, the general manager of WesBank marketing, notes that giving back is in line with the economic development objectives of the WesBank Street Race. "These gardens will not only provide the communities with fresh vegetables, but also employment opportunities for unemployed community members."
Kgotso Obed Molope, the school principal, says it is encouraging to have been chosen as a benefactor of the project. "We are very happy and honoured to have been chosen to benefit from this project. I think it will go a long way in ensuring that our children learn about the importance of agriculture at a young age, so that when they grow up and if they don't have jobs, they can sustain themselves through this means," he says.
Once ready for harvesting, the vegetables will be given back to the community, Molope says, from which some of the people hired to sustain the garden hail.
"I think this kind of a project teaches kids to fend for themselves and not be reliant on their parents for everything. We want to cultivate a culture where our children are independent and know how to survive."
Thom Kubeka, a motorsport specialist from WesBank, explains the thinking behind the programme: "Our employees come from these communities and the support we get is from the same communities, so it is important to give back."
In demonstrating its ongoing commitment to "making a sustainable difference in communities across South Africa", WesBank will also pioneer similar projects in five other schools in Soweto, including Pimville's Themba Primary School and Emshukantambo Secondary School.
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