A group of university students have started preparing several vegetable gardens at a local primary school as part of an initiative focused on catering to educational and social needs.
This is according to Athenkosi Gxekwa, a BA (Social Work) student at Stellenbosch University (SU).
“With the vegetables we create here, we aim to help provide food packages for students,” said Athenkosi.
Student volunteers from SU helped with the preparation of a vegetable garden at iKaya Primary School in Kayamandi on Friday 23 May. SMF News was in attendance.
This is the fifth garden of its kind at the school and forms part of the school’s ARISE project, according to Athenkosi.
The letters in ARISE point to the school’s core values: Action, Respect, Integrity, Service, and Excellence, according to Noluthando, the principal of iKaya Primary School and Athenkosi’s mother, who started the initiative.
One of the five plots that will be used to plant vegetables for learners of iKaya Primary School. The ARISE project at the school will be executed in three phases. The first phase started with the decoration of the school garden with the core values of the school. The second phase is focused on tutoring sessions and extramural activities for the learners. During the third phase, the aim will be to establish a marked route from the school to Stellenbosch University, as a symbol of the path that learners could take to reach the university. This is according to Noluthando Gxekwa, principal of Ikaya Primary School. PHOTO: Jared Moorgas
“We’ve been implementing tutoring classes after school, as well as planning to work with social work students rendering social services to young learners,” said Athenkosi. “There are various social projects that we have planned, starting with the community garden to cater to learners’ nutritional needs.”
The principal oversees the mural committee, which is in charge of the school’s mural and garden initiatives, according to Noluthando.
The project was established to address the school’s academic underperformance, she said.
“We want to change the environment of this poor Kayamandi primary school into a Model C school in the community,” said Noluthando.
The school garden at iKaya Primary School is decorated with the core values of the school. ARISE stands for Action, Respect, Integrity, Service, and Excellence. It is derived from the school slogan, Ntinga Ntakandini, meaning a bird flying high. This is according to Noluthando Gxekwa, principal of iKaya Primary school. PHOTO: Jared Moorgas
Her daughter, Athenkosi, is in charge of the student-led portion of the project, which includes tutoring and other social projects.
“As a social worker, I’ve worked in Kayamandi and I saw that there are a lot of issues,” said Athenkosi. “So yes, we can essentially address the educational aspect, but if we don’t kind of balance it with the social aspect, how can we essentially say that we are helping students?”
Community garden
Previously, two plots of land were opened and the volunteers helped to prepare the soil, according to Athenkosi.
“This week, we are going to open about five more, as well as planting the seeds,” she said.
Angela Rantoa (left), a BEd (Intermediate Phase Teaching) student at Stellenbosch University (SU), and Athenkosi Gxekwa (right), a BA (Social Work) student at SU, preparing the soil for the garden. “With ARISE, we already started on our tutoring program, so that runs from Tuesday to Thursday, 2pm to 4pm,” said Athenkosi. “So they do English as well as Mathematics classes. That is essentially our focus right now.” PHOTO: Jared Moorgas
The volunteers, who work in their own capacity, also plan on planting 300 trees around the school, with 100 trees already planted, said Athenkosi.
The purpose of the garden is to empower the community, according to Nkosinathi Mulakanya, a fifth-year BA (Social Work) student, who was part of the group of volunteers.
“We can have an impact in the community and start small initiatives, because small efforts at the start can make a huge impact,” said Nkosinathi.
Michael Manzi, a BEd (Intermediate Phase Teaching) student at SU and the Student Representative Council (SRC) secretary general, said that it is “very important to go back and give back” to communities that surround the university.