School project takes shape
When we got to the school on Wednesday we were amazed to see that the veggie garden was already in place, fenced and tiny seedlings already appearing. We just neatened the area up that day and tackled areas within the school grounds. With the assistance of Freddie with the municipal TLB a huge wild banana went in plus 10 trees, we planted up the “Principal’s garden” and made a little bed around an existing tree.
The next day we completed the veggie garden, planting bean and tomato seeds along the fence, readied the remaining beds and planted them up with a variety of seeds. Also planted “healing” plants such as candula, basil, oregano, marigolds etc etc. Fed it with Bounce Back and watered. The veggie garden will now be tended by the school and we will pop in to assist. We will still be putting in some more herbal plants such as rosemary etc that I have slipped but they need to grow a while. Piet Plantelus has promised to donate trees and we want to ask if some of those could be fruit trees. Gavin from Builders Express donated tools to the school and has promised further plants: edible, medicinal or indigenous plus we can talk to him if other things are required.
We supplied the school with 5 bins: 2 of these are being used to wash plates after lunch – this school of 730 pupils has one tap in the garden for EVERTHING!!!!!! More bins in the future is something we should think about. Tyrone got his guys to attach the lids to the bin and cut out a portion of the lid for easy usage. Works like a charm. Thanks a million, Tyrone. We have also put 3 bins like this at Supers and have another 3 still to place there. The bins at Supers are bolted to the decks or boardwalks.
Decking at School and Toilets
At the one and only tap at the school there is a great problem with water lying around and the kids have to stand in this water in order to take a drink. On top of this, a leaking cistern and toilet (on-going problem for +/- years) in the nearby vicinity meets with this water. Koffie and Tyrone were horrified when they saw the state of things. A plumber, who the SSF will pay for, has been called in to fix the toilet situation. Tyrone, in the meantime, organized his guy, Lawrence, to drill a hole through the toilet wall to drain the water so that the kids at least don’t have to walk through this revolting wetness to get to the loo. He also asked Lawrence to make a deck at the tap. We collected decking that had been stashed at the Park and by lunchtime yesterday, the kids had a brand new way the drink water. We will be planting water-loving plants alongside the deck today. Tyrone, as per the coke ad “You are a legend”!!!!!!!!!!!!!) Many, many thanks. The Headmaster is DANCING!
Succulent Garden
At the side of the school we have almost completed a succulent garden. This will just continue to grow as and when we have plants. The teachers and kids will be looking after the plants. We have inserted inverted cut-off 2l coke bottles next to all of the trees and the children are putting 2 watering cans of water into each each day thereby minimizing the water usage but ensuring that the water gets to the roots of the trees. It is wonderful to get to the school each morning to see kids with watering cans and the hose looking after the plants. (And sweeping the grounds). The whole school seems to be amped by the program as are the nutrition people (I have been asked to attend a meeting on Monday to give ideas how this kind of thing can be done in other schools in the whole Kouga area).