With the help of DEG/KfW funds, up to 40 schools within a radius of 140 km around Potchefstroom will be supported in 2021 to 2023 both with Vitality Porridge for school children and their families and with newly installed school gardens.
In some schools small agri-voltaic greenhouses are being built. These generate the renewable electricity that can also supply the school, while under the glass-glass solar panels, children and their families are instructed to plant tomatoes, cabbage, spinach, beetroot, peppers, pumpkin and medicinal herbs such as artemesia, ginger, turmeric and coriander. The healthy and vitamin-rich food is processed in the school kitchen as a lunch portion for the children and also distributed to the needy families in the area for basic care.
The FEED team is fully involved in the implementation of the far-reaching project in the region. The training measures in the region have also been expanded, so that now about 100 participants per week are trained in different communities of the region. In this way, about 500 square meters of new vegetable gardens are created per week – often previously unused areas – which are jointly managed by community or township residents. In this way, participants can not only take care of themselves, but also learn to work cooperatively and support each other, so that social conflicts or crime due to the social emergency are greatly reduced.
