COMMUNITY OUTREACH PROJECTS

Since establishing the first 3 gardens in Bulawayo in 2013, Sally Foundation has been looking at ways to enhance the lives of the community garden beneficiaries and others within the community. This has resulted in a number of initiatives being implemented.

Sally Foundation partners with GDG Australia who provides a governance oversight role. The projects are implemented by the Zimbabwe Development Democracy Trust (ZDDT), a locally based organisation dedicated to creating sustainable development and positive change. Read more about our partners…

Business Social Credit Scheme (“BSCS”)

The Business Social Credit Scheme (“BSCS”) is a ZDDT initiative, in which elected Councillors and their Community Action Teams, are encouraged to single out exceptionally needy cases in their Wards. Each person selected qualifies to receive a cash donation of $50USD as a means of assistance.

Currently there are 2 grants per month – one funded by Sally Foundation and one by Freight Consultants, a member of the business sector in Bulawayo.

BSCS is a manifestation of ZDDT’s founding principle of community building, uniting all sectors of society with the goal of uplifting and assisting one another in improving the quality of life. The intention is to assist local councillors towards the alleviation of poverty in their community, not only for the recipient’s family, but also ultimately within the community as a whole.

Examples of Help Provided

Ward18: Cllr C Mlalazi:  Freight Consultants BSCS – Zephania Gumede, a 75-year old widower who lives with his 34-year old daughter who suffers from Down Syndrome. He was a welder but now is semi-blind so does not work. He  relies on well-wishers and community members for food and other necessities. He will buy food with the donation.

Ward18: Cllr C Mlalazi:  Freight Consultants BSCS – Lina Ndlovu is 62 and lives with her unemployed son and 5 grandchildren. Her son does piece-meal jobs from time to time in order to fend for the family but they mostly rely on well-wishers and the community at large for food. Their electricity and water was disconnected a while back due to arrears. She will buy groceries for the family with the donation.

Horticulture Training School

Eku is a medical facility which takes care of the  very elderly, restores them to health and then reintegrates them with their families. It currently accommodates 48 elderly residents with varying long term medical needs which cannot be coped with at home-given the current economic situation coupled with the breakdown in traditional social structure and family unit.

Before the Project Started

After the project had started

Initially Sally Foundation funded the solarisation of the existing borehole to provide a reliable source of water, start-up seed and fertiliser, together with technical support from Sally Foundation funded ZDDT facilitated staff.

In the first year 28 different varieties of vegetables and fruit were produced. This has had a huge impact on the diet of the residents of the home. The next step was to work with kitchen staff to change menus to include all the new produce. Sally Foundation provided finance for Value Added Cooking lessons. Today, the residents of the home enjoy a varied diet and the kitchen are preserving surplus in the way of sauces, jams, pickles etc. Sugar free marmalade for the diabetic residents of the Home is a particular success.

A few months after we commenced with the vegetable garden at Ekuphumuleni we started another small experiment a Horticultural Training School for young adults.

This high Impact program trains young people in how to successfully establish and maintain a viable vegetable garden. This involves Intensive on-site training at the EKU gardens with produce available to the home as well as opportunities for the home participants to get involved.

This highly successful program has turned out 20 trained gardeners and has led to a highly respected valuable relationship with EKU.

Sally Foundation established a commercial fish pond to produce protein to the home.

The training programme has turned out to be one of the most successful projects. A small number of young people are selected from various organisations such as Mustard Seed Community, King George VI Centre for the disabled, Children of Grace and various Church organisations. These young people spend a morning a week for a period of 3 months learning key aspects of soil science, crop management, orchard management, pests and diseases, Agri inputs and much more. They receive a certificate at the end of the course. The success rate is high due mainly to the one on one work relationship with the facilitators. The majority of the students have gone on to find meaningful employment in the Horticultural sector. One of our graduates, speaking to a visiting delegation said “at Horticultural school we not only learn a lot of cool stuff but we Grow People as well”… An accurate, if different, way of expressing the huge amount of confidence which is gained by these young people, who all come from very difficult backgrounds, as a result of working and learning in a positive environment.

The interaction between the elderly residents of Eku and the young, energetic students has a positive effect on both parties.

The number of benefits of the Sally Foundation/ZDDT intervention at Ekuphumuleni continue to grow. Visitors to the Home be they individuals, corporates, NGOs, Church organisations and Government delegations all comment on the vegetable gardens, orchard and fish pond. Donations continue to come in. A church organisation is currently preparing to drill and equip another borehole for the Home and a private individual has pledged funds to build a large shade house and an additional fish pond. This alongside continuous donations of seed, seedlings and other inputs.

Aside from internal growth new projects are being started and funded on the back of our success at Ekuphumuleni, the 6 hectare garden funded by Zimbabwe Victims Support Fund being a notable example.

More recently, it donated a TV and DVD player where by the elderly can watch Geraldine Roche Drama produced films, listen to music etc.

COOKING SCHOOL AT KING GEORGE VI CENTRE

“NEVER GIVE UP”

King George VI  (KGVI) was established in 1957. It is a School and Rehabilitation Centre for children who are disabled or deaf.

KGVI currently has 80 boarding students who come from all parts of Zimbabwe and 380 local day students who come from the Bulawayo area. Ages of students ranges from 3 years old to 20 years old. Most of these children come from very poor backgrounds.

Sally Foundation and ZDDT first got involved at KGVI early in 2022 once the relaxation of Covid 19 restrictions allowed us access to the Centre.

Our involvement is multi-faceted.   Initially two of their Vocational students,  both of whom are deaf, joined our Horticultural Training programme which is based at Ekuphumuleni Geriatric Nursing Home in Bulawayo.  The inclusion of deaf students with hearing students was a valuable exercise for students, teachers and the very elderly residents of Ekuphumuleni.

The Horticultural Training programme is a three month course aimed at raising Horticultural skills amongst young people to a standard where they can find meaningful employment in the Horticultural sector. The course content covers basic soil science, soil health,  orchard management, garden care and planning, pests and diseases, agro chemicals and their use etc.   

Both of the students excelled in this area and their skills developed further when Sally Foundation and ZDDT offered a Value Added Cooking programme to students at KGVI.  The progression of producing quality produce from vegetable gardens and orchards led to our naturally needing to teach people skills in the way of preserving these foods.

Our Value Added Cooking Programme is a huge success at KGVI.  Classes average about 18 participants at a time with students drawn from the Vocational/Horticultural students, older academic classes,  KGVI Centre staff, teachers and therapists. Lessons are huge fun for all of us and it is very satisfying to see participants not only gaining skills but gaining confidence as they see that quality produce can be achieved .  Students from the Value Added Cooking programme  have been making jam, pickles and tomato sauce for use by KGVI Centre for some time and also get involved in making hamburgers, samosas etc to sell at events at KGVI.  Some of the Centres staff members are now making jams, pickles and preserves for their own home consumption.

The Value Added Cooking course covers aspects such as jam, pickles, preserves, bread, pizza (a favourite obviously), samosas, spring rolls and such.  Aside from the cooking aspect we also train in costing, basic accounting and marketing – all aimed at building skills with a view to students being able to start their own small businesses once they leave KGVI.

Of especial interest is the development of our Train the Trainer programme which has been very successful at KGVI – here students who have been involved in one or both of our training programmes are given the opportunity of training other young people.  This leads to a huge boost in morale and self esteem.

This year KGVI have offered Sally Foundation and ZDDT full use of both their kitchens and their extensive gardens, orchard and shade houses. This will mean that the Horticultural Training programme and the Value Added Cooking programme can expand to benefit more young people.