On a breezy, overcast day in Cape Town’s Khayelitsha township, Nonina Pama teases a few of her fellow gardeners, who might be almost a half-century her junior.
“You’re young, use your strength, your energy!” she says theatrically. “I’m strong, even though I’m 67 years old! C’mon, man, work like I do.”
The performance is meant to lighten the mood and motivate her team, which is preparing a fresh bed for spinach seedlings. But Nonina backs up her words — she’s everywhere in the garden, quickly moving from raking to watering to demonstrating planting technique.
At every moment, she commands attention. “Are you guys even listening to what I’m doing?” she calls out, as she pokes holes in the soil. “Yes! We’re watching!” replies the group in mock exasperation.
Nonina is one of the garden managers at Sinethemba Ithemba, a nonprofit organization that does a little bit of everything to meet the needs of the community.
Although the garden has been in existence for more than a decade, it has really blossomed in the last couple of years through a close partnership with FoodForward South Africa, a member of The Global FoodBanking Network.
“I live off this garden,” Nonina says. “You can see for yourself how fit I am.”
The pride Nonina carries for her vim and vigor is well earned. When she first came to Sinethemba, things were much different. While doing her best to provide for a household of five, Nonina was also struggling with malnutrition and tuberculosis.
“It was a difficult and uncertain time in my life.”
South Africa’s HIV/AIDS burden per capita is one of the highest in the world; The same is true for tuberculosis. In Khayelitsha, rates for both are significantly higher than the national average.
Treatment for both is closely tied to food and nutrition. Tuberculosis treatment involves multiple medications taken over the course of four to 24 months, and it can be hard on the body. Many people simply can’t take it on an empty stomach. Some treatments for HIV/AIDS are much better absorbed with food — and the treatment is lifelong, so stable food access becomes even more crucial.
Of course, without sufficient food, malnutrition weakens the immune system, making healing more difficult. And healthy food is hard to come by for many in Khayelitsha, where at least half of households are moderately or severely food insecure.
“People were saying, ‘I cannot take my treatment because I do not have food to eat,’” says Nolitha, adding that Nonina was defaulting on her treatment when she first came to Sinethemba.
“It was very important for us to cook for them,” Nolitha said. “We had this small garden. It was very small, not producing a lot. That’s how we ended up going to FoodForward.”
Outside the FoodForward SA offices in Cape Town, Likopo Sehlabo takes care of a few important things before delivering seedlings to Nonina at Sinethemba. He hums a traditional Sesotho song as he waters the plants in the demonstration garden.
“It’s … communicating with your plants, talking to them, motivating them,” says Likopo, who goes by D.K. “You’re having a conversation with them. I like [watering] in the morning, asking them if they had a good night.”
D.K. is the FoodForward SA community development officer responsible for the Food Gardens Connect program, which helps food-insecure communities like Khayelitsha grow their own food to improve nutrition and health.
In the greenhouse at the back of the garden, D.K. grows vegetable seedlings to give to Sinethemba Ithemba and other partner organizations — currently 24 around Cape Town participate in the program.
For six weeks, D.K. trains program participants in the foundations of agriculture — how to enrich the soil, how to make compost, how to transplant seedlings — often bringing them to the show garden to do so. After that, he provides advice and support on a weekly basis. For example, if a garden is struggling with pests, D.K. will help the gardeners mix their own all-natural pesticide using his own original recipe.
“With this program,” D.K. says, “it is my hope that we see communities … just buying maize meal and cooking oil — and the rest, nature will give it to them.”
Everyone who helps maintain the community gardens takes home fresh produce when it’s ready to harvest, and most organizations, like Sinethemba, use the food to stock their community kitchens. If there’s food leftover after the harvest, FoodForward buys it and takes it to their warehouse, and from there, they will make sure it gets to other community organizations that will put it to good use. To date, FoodForward has bought back more than four tons of produce from community gardens, paying organizations around 40,000 rand, or almost US$2,500.
“We teach people to grow their own food, and they can invite other people from the community and transfer those skills,” says Andy DuPlessis, managing director of FoodForward SA. “And that’s how we multiply the good.”
Soon, FoodForward plans to expand Food Gardens Connect to other parts of the country to improve the nutrition of people in food-insecure communities. And with financial support from The Global FoodBanking Network, FoodForward started a program in partnership with tuberculosis clinics that suffered from official development assistance cuts.
“We ensure that not just the TB patients — but the families of those patients — are getting food on a regular basis until they are no longer ill,” says Andy.
Today at Sinethemba, there’s plenty of good produce to support the community — plots of sweet corn, green onions, kale, spinach, cabbage, eggplant, watermelon and a variety of herbs are thriving. But the garden wasn’t always this bountiful.
“There’s definitely been a change,” Nonina says. “We’ve never had a garden like this before [in the community]. Previously, it didn’t feel like a community garden. This garden used to be a headache. Then FoodForward came along. They changed everything.”
For people like Nonina who struggle with poor nutrition and serious illness, a reliable source of healthy foods makes all the difference. Through a combination of medicine and proper nutrition, her health improved.
“The garden has changed my entire diet,” she says. After coming to Sinethemba and receiving food daily from the garden and the community kitchen, she was able to take her tuberculosis medications.
“The difference from my vegetable intake was visible,” Nonina said. “I could feel it in my blood.”
After finishing her treatment, Nonina’s last follow-up appointment showed that her body had cleared the tuberculosis bacteria. But unfortunately, the tests found something else.
“HIV was clearly in my system,” she says.
“It was difficult. I broke out in hives, and I was admitted to the hospital. Nolitha and other people from Sinethemba came to see me during visiting hours. They would bring me meals.”
Nonina began taking antiretroviral medication for HIV. Just like with the tuberculosis treatment, a steady regimen of healthy foods bolstered both her body and her ability to take the medicine.
“I love food,” she says, and when asked about her favorite food, she rattles off at least a dozen vegetables. “I like my food colorful.”
Over time, Nonina found her health again. She still takes antiretrovirals, but she’s active and energetic. Nolitha hired Nonina to help manage the garden after her body recovered. She was perfect for the role.
“Whatever she does, she is very committed,” Nolitha says. “She likes order.”
The garden helped Nonina continue to recover by helping her build community and keeping her active. “The strength I’ve gained from this garden even surprises me sometimes,” she says, adding that it keeps her young.
“I really want to stay away from aging early. I don’t want to be an old granny,” she says, laughing. “I’m not a granny, thanks to the vegetables in this garden.
“FoodForward gave us sustenance. The whole garden’s proof of that.”
