Abalimi Urban Farming Project
This week we were able to visit a community garden in a very unlikely place, located in the oldest township in Cape Town, Langa. Vuna, the garden’s name, is an initiative backed by Abalimi Bezekhaya a non-governmental organization that focuses on urban agriculture in the townships, and also the focus of my 10- meter view project with Professor Gordon Adomdza. This project is the second segment of our academic program during the trip and is centered around the analysis of an organization from a wider perspective, or using a 10 meter view. The day before, my group and I were able to visit seven different community gardens connected with Abalimi trying to outline the characteristics of what makes a successful garden and where some gardens are missing the mark.
Through our conversations with Rob, an Abalimi representative, we had hypothesized some target points that we thought were clear indicators of success including, staffing, management and training. However, our conversations with the farmers resulted in different findings. Each garden that we visited, the groups of (mostly) older women were all approachable and welcoming to our probing questions. Although some of the more realistic concepts that we assumed would emerge did, we did encounter some surprises. With each successful farm that we visited, we realized that in fact markers of success are not as clear cut and tangible as we had previously thought. For the gardens that held their bounty in neatly arranged, weeded and well-tended rows, the love of gardening and the passion for community involvement and improvement shone through in the gardeners that we interviewed. When asked whether he liked gardening, one garden leader who boasted a 2800 square meter garden producing vegetables to sell weekly, responded, “I love it. I just forget everything when I’m out here.”
Now, backtrack to Vuna, the community garden in Langa. Vuna is located on a huge plot of land, but failing to operate to capacity. Rob from Abalimi had asked my team to investigate why we thought this is. Upon arrival, we were greeted by two farm workers one of which had conveniently started that day. When the garden leader arrived, the differences were staggering. She sought to place blame on things that hadn’t been done for her by the City of Cape Town, the department of Agriculture, and Abalimi. Instead of focusing on what the group could do better to improve- to sell more vegetables, to expand their gardens, to get more rich soil or whatever it may be, she focused on the actions of others that failed to give her something that she thought she deserved.
As we’ve been exploring on this trip, the topic of handouts is controversial for many reasons. Will those in poverty become accustomed to what had been given to them, never working provide for themselves? Or is a handout just a stepping-stone to get someone off his or her feet? As exemplified in the contrast between the multiple urban gardens we’ve researched, those that succeed don’t succeed because of something as simple as management or getting seeds. They succeed because of their intrinsic love of gardening, their drive to feed their family and make a sustainable income; not because they’re waiting for someone else to do it for them.
- Emma Rubbins-Breen