Alwin Kgopa is a force of nature. With her infectious laugh, “can do” attitude and determination to empower and uplift the communities surrounding her home in Mankweng, Limpopo, she is also a force to be reckoned with.
“If you had met me in 1998 you would not have noticed me,” she giggles. The instrument of her transformation is the school’s award-winning permaculture garden, part of the renowned Food & Trees for Africa EduPlant programme, and a project which Kgopa confesses she “didn’t like” when she first became involved in it.
“I was introduced to EduPlant by an official from the department of the environment and attended a workshop,” she explains. “But it took a couple of years of struggling with the concepts and attending more workshops before the idea really took hold. After that it became my passion” she says with a broad smile.
EduPlant is one of Food & Trees for Africa’s (FTFA) programmes that helps schools across the country grow food sustainably through permaculture - an environmentally friendly system of gardening and farming that imitates nature as closely as possible to grow fresh vegetables, fruit and herbs. Permaculture is cost-effective, environmentally friendly and healthy, and an easy method for communities to achieve sustainable food security.
The EduPlant programme runs one-day workshops designed to show teachers how to create and tend permaculture gardens at schools so that they can feed often hungry and undernourished pupils. Cluster workshops – for clusters of schools in each of South Africa’s nine provinces - are also run throughout this year and 2012, along with a school gardening competition.
“It took a lot of time for me to establish the school garden at Toronto Primary School” explains Kgopa. “It was only after three or four years that I managed to get it where I wanted it. I became more and more proficient and in 2002 was one of the winners of the competition and attended a special two-week training course at Rustlers Valley in the Free State,” she adds.
The Rustlers Valley course was a turning point for Kgopa. When she returned home to Mankweng she knew precisely what she needed to do to make not just the Toronto School garden a success, but to inspire others to become involved in the project and learn more about permaculture.
“I suddenly found my voice!” she laughs. “I became more confident in my own abilities and my level of expertise with the garden, and this helped me spread the word.” And with the help of a R100,000 donation from the National Lottery, through FTFA, Kgopa spread that word far and wide, engaging other schools and communities and giving talks to local authorities and government departments.“In 2003 we were the provincial winners for Limpopo,” she says. “In 2004 we won in the advanced category, and in 2009, when a new category for mentorship was introduced to the competition, I won again. This programme has empowered me, and by doing so has helped me to empower hundreds of other people, starting with the parents at Toronto Primary School.”
Located some 30kms outside Polokwane, the school has 1394 children. All are fed a healthy, nutritious meal each day thanks to the fresh produce grown in the garden.
“We grow most seasonal vegetables like cabbage, spinach, onions and carrots, which are used every day” explains Kgopa. “Then we have lettuce, mielies and beans in the summer, and tomatoes, potatoes, green peppers, chillis and herbs like garlic, chives, rosemary and basil. What we don’t use is sold to the local community, helping to raise funds for the school.”
But the best thing about the garden, for Kgopa, is the change for the better it has brought, not just for her own self-confidence, but for the children she teaches.
“They love the garden,” she beams, proudly. “They love the food it produces. They know that by eating healthy food they become strong and healthy, and able to garden for themselves. With that knowledge they will never go hungry!”
