The Elangeni Green Zone, a plot of land behind the Elangeni Hotel in Durban has been transformed into a vegetable farm and market after 15 men from a local homeless shelter tried their hands at farming during lockdown.
The men, who were provided with shelter in the area by the eThekwini Municipality during lockdown, came up with an idea to keep them busy, have their own source of fresh food and earn income from their hard work. The municipality endorses the initiative and is headed by the city’s Deputy Mayor Fawzia Peer.
‘The initiative has been a rehabilitation programme for many homeless people and will result in a long term contribution to the city’s growth,’ municipality spokesperson Msawakhe Mayisela told IOL.
Various fresh produce is available for sale to the public at extremely reasonable prices including spinach, cabbage, lettuce, tomatoes, carrots and more.
Journalist Sue Derwent visited the farm and wrote on Facebook: ‘Honestly, you can’t believe what these guys have achieved. Without any chemical sprays or any such things. Just with a vacant lot they were housed in during hard lockdown, their bare hands, a couple of spades, and the assistance of the most delightfully unassuming homeless guy who just happens to have an agricultural diploma, and who was bored during lockdown. He has also been training anyone there who wanted to participate.’
The farm closes to the public periodically in order to ‘rest’ the vegetables. ‘We are taking a 8 day break to rehabilitate all our veggies,’ Elangeni Green Zone posted on Facebook on October 10. ‘We choose not to grow our veggies using chemicals, our first priority is to provide 100 percent organic, not to rush our produce by enhancing it with genetics.’
‘During the past 5 to 6 months we have managed to live together and take advantage of having different skills programmes made available to us,’ Sizwe Mbatha, a member of the green zone told IOL.
‘This is our first time to be close to the municipality’s safer cities and social development disaster management programmes. We are proud to say that we have been given a new lease of life, and we are ready to participate in the economy through our initiative,’ he added.
Pictures: Facebook/Elangeni Green Zone
