Food Security is one of the biggest problems in South Africa as many children go to bed on empty stomach. BEEP saw it fit to establish 8 Food Gardens in the 8 different schools across Phillipi, Nyanga, New Cross Road and Gugulethu. The Food Garden Program serves as one of the practical projects of the School Based Interactive Workshops, as pupils participating in these workshops are taught on how to start, how to maintain, how to sustain Food Gardens in their respective Schools. These pupils would then be given a practical experience of starting these Food Garden, maintain and sustain them. The pupils from the respective schools would assist in watering the Gardens however BEEP would employ skilled people that would ensure that the Gardens are sustainable.
BEEP realized that, its not enough to insists that “education is the key to life’’, as our current educational syllabus does not seem to provide the pupils with any learning’s that are skills orientated or that are intended to help them to unlock their skills, nurture and sharpen their skills for the betterment of their future especially at the young age. Therefore the Food Garden program play an important role not only in educating the pupils on Food Security but also in providing them with the life-time agricultural skill. And BEEP felt that it was important that its pupils are not given a fish but rather taught how to Fish.
There are a number of direct benefits associated with the food security project:
- Improved nutrition and food security for the beneficiaries of the food gardens.
- Participants understand the need for good nutrition and the advantages of organically grown, fresh vegetables.
- Participants form a positive peer group that counterbalances prevailing negative or destructive groups and behavior.
- The waste recycling program results in cleaner, healthier school environments, savings on fertilizer as well as generating some income.
- The use of the garden for some curriculum activity and the use of classroom-based skills in the garden improve classroom performance in life skills, literacy and numeracy.