Seeds of Hope planted on Tu B’Shvat

SA Zionist Federation Cape Council Chair, Karen Marsden Sank presenting donation to Pastor Aaron Makili with Trystan Tregenza Hall

South African Friends of Israel (SAFI) and the Jewish National Fund (JNF) celebrated Tu B’Shvat by partnering with the Seeds of Hope Community Gardening Project in Khayelitsha.

Based at the Makukhanye Centre, Pastor Aaron Makili and his team have planted a community kitchen garden on the plot surrounding their community centre. The garden consists of vegetables and herbs and the produce is used in the soup kitchen, also based at the Centre, which daily feeds 230 individuals (including many children). The garden is worked by local volunteers, helping to restore self-esteem and purpose to the many who have lost employment during the pandemic.

However, the productivity of the garden has been hampered for want of an irrigation system, whilst the quality of the soil is poor and sandy. The need of the local community in Khayelitsha for food security is great, particularly in these uncertain times, and that’s why SAFI and the JNF stepped in to help. On Tu B’Shvat, a donation was made to the Seeds of Hope project to assist them with their most pressing needs for basic water irrigation, tools, seeds and improvement of the soil through fertilisation and enrichment. This donation was an active remembrance of our responsibility to care for the land; making it green, verdant and productive in a way which is sustainable and ecologically sound. What better way to do this than to assist a nascent micro-farming initiative which is wholly dedicated to serving the needs of its local community?

Together, we really can plant seeds of hope.

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• Published in the print edition of the March/April Pesach 2021 issue. Download the March/April 2021 issue PDF here.

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