By Hazel Friedman, award-winning journalist
The sounds of song and laughter resonate along the path to several homesteads dotting the hills of Mandleni in the Eastern Cape’s OR Tambo District Municipality. As we approach a cluster of fenced-in rondavels, framing lush gardens, several women break into a welcoming ululation. Mandleni is one of several locations where One To One is addressing the problem of food inaccessibility and financial insecurity by equipping families with the skills to be able to sustainably grow their own food at home.
Through the One To One Enable Mentor Mothers programme, local communities are cultivating communal food gardens while being educated on the benefits of a balanced diet. The objective is to facilitate self-reliance and economic empowerment as well
The food gardens would ensure greater food security for remote rural communities and offer a sustainable model for adequate nutrition in areas where malnourishment is rife; as well as providing potential income generation for families and villages that are largely dependent on social grants for survival.
One To One Mentor Mothers provide practical training on nutrition
“This is one of our most exciting and challenging projects”, says Thandie Matikinca, One To One’s Programme Manager in the Eastern Cape. “Many families tend to think of nutrition as basically buying provisions at the local shop. But balanced nutrition involves so much more than simply putting food on the table.”
“Previously, if they planted a vegetable garden, some of the communities we service could only think about growing maize,” explains Nolubabalo Tshemese, who has been a Mentor Mother Supervisor since the One To One Enable Programme was established in 2016.
“Some rural communities have struggled to grasp the importance of vegetables such as potatoes, spinach, beetroot, etc, particularly for the healthy physical and mental development of their children. But that situation is changing now”, she says, indicating the luxuriant rows of crops sprouting up in the Mandleni vegetable garden.
“One to One has provided extensive training, not only to the communities but also to the Mentor Mothers about the practicalities of growing small-scale food gardens.”
One To One is promoting food security among remote rural villages
For example, the food gardens require protection from the appetites of “The Big Four” - cattle, goats, sheep and chickens – who regularly wander into the gardens for a daily snack. Keeping the livestock at bay would be impossible without adequate fencing. But this requires capital outlay, which One To One provides. One To One’s training and infrastructural methods also include techniques such as how to prepare the land, promoting soil health and biodiversity, as well as making compost and rotating crops.
The One To One investment is clearly providing dividends. The 2023 harvest at the Mandleni food garden resembles an oasis.
“And now we are at the next level”, exclaims Matikinca. “This garden is proving that our education in nutrition and communal food gardens model can work. The women are collaborating and sharing ideas on how to extend the value of their produce, from putting food on the table to earning an extra income from the surplus.”
There are also long-term benefits. Through the One To One food garden projects, rural communities are now getting healthier. Their children are able to improve their concentration at school and are learning the lifelong benefits of maintaining a healthy lifestyle. These projects prove that through patient and committed teamwork, grand ambitions may be gradually realised in small steps with the potential for positive impact far beyond what we can imagine.
The Mandleni food garden has become a One To One flagship