Siyakhana – Bez Park’s treasure
Siyakhana is an organic garden project that was started 11 years ago by Wits University.
Alex Woolfe is a geologist who found his real life passion in a vegetable garden.
The Siyakhana garden has been described as a treasure in Bezuidenhout Park.
“I came to Siyakhana on Mandela Day in 2014. On that day, my passion for growing things made me fall in love with what the project was all about. That was the beginning of my journey,” said Alex.
Siyakhana is an organic garden project that was started 11 years ago by Wits University, together with a group of women to help feed a group of children.
In the early stages of the garden, it served its purpose as funding was available to run the project.
When funding was not sufficient, it became difficult for the workers to tend to the garden as it required full-time staff.
“I started as a volunteer and that helped me to learn about farming as I don’t have any background on farming or gardening. I just have a passion for growing things.
“After a year of volunteering, I saw a need to manage the garden and that is when I started focusing on structuring the garden. I also looked for ways to maintain the garden and generate money to meet the day-to-day needs to run the garden,” said Alex.
Alex is a self-taught farmer.
“My passion has managed to keep me away from what I really studied and I don’t regret even one day. Every day I learn so much from the people I work with,” he said.
Alex said an organic garden is an amazing way to be healthy for the entire family and a community, as no chemicals are used on vegetables.
“I can eat anything directly from the soil to my mouth because it’s clean. We rely on Mother Nature to help our plants grow.
“One of the most important things in life is to know what we put in our bodies. Starting your garden is easy. It can be done in your back yard,” Alex said.
Financial constraints have made running the garden difficult and recent heavy rains resulted in a loss of crops.
“The team has worked hard in making sure the garden does not die. The garden survives by supplying small businesses around the area and selling to households,” he said.
“People in the community know about the garden by word of mouth and they come to buy from us every day. That helps us because the money makes a difference to the workers as it puts food on the table,” said Alex.
He said the team remains committed, despite the ongoing challenges.
Alex’s wish for the garden is for it to be a functional farm that makes a profit and is able to support itself.
“We have plans in place to grow the farm but before we can do that we need to make sure the garden is able to meet all the requirements that it is supposed to and that it is a fully functional garden that produces enough to supply all,” said Alex.
Alex is confident that without the support of the garden’s employees, he would not have been able to achieve any successes with the garden, since taking over the managing side.
“They have been working on the project for seven years and know everything about the garden and how to make it work. This has played an important role in making sure Siyakhana succeeds,” he said.
