Our partnership with UK Schools date back since 2005, where pupils from Reeds and LVS College visit cluster schools we support to start the foundations of sport fields, transform libraries or start/improve food gardens. Reeds and LVS jointly form the 'Grassroots Project' who work in conjunction with Calabash Trust UK for fundraising. To date Grassroots and another UK School, Chaucer Sheffield who came on board beginning of 2011, have helped build 4 soccer fields, cricket nets, 2 netball courts, 2 libraries and 2 food gardens. This allows township schools to become more attractive to parents and children within the community. Have a look at the Calabash Trust UK website for more information...
2011 Projects:
Chaucer food garden at Mboniselo Primary School
Through Calabash linking with Face Africa and Chaucer Business and Enterprise College in Sheffield UK, a unique and beautiful food garden in conjunction with a permaculture workshop was established at Mboniselo Primary School, Motherwell. Children from the UK and children from the previously disadvantaged area in PE had a chance to experience a different culture first hand, while working together towards creating a sustainable feeding scheme in the school through a food garden. Considering the exceptionally hot weather in PE during the 1st week of March 2011, the children showed true endurance while preparing the garden area, especially when they encountered large rocks that needed to be removed! In addition to preparing the food garden, they planted spekboom, which has huge carbon storing capacities, through the facilitation of WESSA. Trees which were donated through trees4africa were also planted to provide some shade.
We extend a special thank to Pumla Koltana from the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality (NMBM) for facilitiating the permaculture workshop, Phumelela gaming and Leisure who sponsored manure, Moorland seedlings who provided the seedlings, JoJo Tanks who once again sponsored a water tank, and to FHB Contracting Services and Algoa Bay Maintenance (ABM) for installing the water tanks and gutters. A food garden forum consisting of parents and teachers from the schools we support has been established through the facilitation of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro…each of these school forming part of the forum are currently preparing their own garden on their spacious school grounds which we will assist them with.
Reeds netball court at Charles Duna Primary School
Reeds College visited Charles Duna Primary School in 2011 to build a netball court and revamp their container library. FHB Contracting assisted with the netball court and the project was a huge success...
Read all about it in the Business Link Magazine...
2010 Projects:
LVS sports field at Vusumzi High Primary School
Vusumzi High Primary School in Addo now has the foundation for a very good sports field thanks to the hard work of LVS College. Cacadu Municipality helped immensely with their sponsorship of a netball kit, netball poles, netball and soccer balls, as well as supplying lunch for the duration of LVS College's visit.
The Sundays River Citrus Company (SRCC) has been extremely helpful - the latest photos were sent by them after they gave it compost and a layer of sand - together with the rains that fell over December 2010, the grass is becoming thick and green...SRCC has offered to help with similar projects in 2011 as they have also recognised the great need to upgrade these sporting facilities...
Reeds library and food garden at Henry Nginza Primary School
A classroom at Henry Nginza Primary School in Njoli was converted into a beautiful library. All materials and hard labour was sponsored by NMC, with Reeds College doing the painting and final touches.
Many parties were involved in the food garden at Henry Nginza. The salt content of the soil in the area is extremely high, therefore Reeds College built food boxes to plant in. Shukuma Flooring Systems sponsored 10 cement slabs for food boxes; NMC sponsored bricks, cement and labour to build these boxes; P&P Plastics sponsored a large amount of plastic sheeting for the bottom of 6 other food boxes where tyres were used as support; 40 cubes of soil and compost were sponsored by Instant Lawns; 2 water tanks were sponsored by Jo Jo tanks, huge discount was given by Marley Pipe Systems for guttering for rainwater collection; Oshry Farms and Moorland Seedlings sponsored over 2000 seedlings; Marina Landscaping sponsored 16 trees. Thank you to everybody involved, and a special thank you to WSP and Marina Landscaping who helped in facilitating the process through their consultation and contacts, as well as to NMC for a job well done.
