Norkem Park store sells grannies’ produce on market day
“My passion is to make my grannies happy and take care of them so that they live well and won’t have to struggle,” says Mpofu.
Produce grown by a group of Ivory Park grannies found its way onto the shelves of Checkers Norkem Park on April 4.
The Supa Dimama food garden was hosted by the store as part of the supermarket’s market day that saw the community food gardens sell their produce, and market themselves, to a potentially larger customer base, Checkers shoppers.
Josephine Mpofu started the Supa Dimama Senior Centre in 2008, after seeing the struggles of elderly people who often went hungry and spent all day alone with no company or stimulation in the impoverished area of Ivory Park.
A widow with almost nothing to her name, Mpofu, was inspired by the example of her own grandmother, who took care of her. She initially acquired two sponsors and set out to help provide nutritious meals, exercise and activities to ease the plight of senior citizens and young mothers.
“My passion is to make my grannies happy and take care of them so that they live well and won’t have to struggle. We must give them love and support because they struggled to give us freedom,” said Mpofu.
Despite financial challenges, she also managed to keep a daycare centre going. In 2017, Supa Dimama received a big boost when it partnered with the Shoprite Group following a Mandela Day initiative by its Gauteng division.
The group’s implementation partner, Food and Trees for Africa, held a series of workshops in which participants were shown how to plant and work the soil more efficiently, greatly increasing the centre’s productivity and sustainability. Equipment, seedlings, other materials and trees, were also provided. A JoJo water tank proved to be a real boon.
Today the centre has 87 beneficiaries on its books, and Mpofu runs it with the help of four volunteers and a sports coach. Breakfast and lunch are provided daily with vegetables including spinach, beetroot, cabbage, potatoes and onions, supplementing the menu they serve.
Medication is dispensed at the centre which also provides a counselling service. Shoprite’s support has also enabled volunteers to visit those unable to make it to the centre on their own steam.
“Shoprite helped my grannies a lot because they showed us how to plough and how to work the land better so that our garden is much more sustainable. We are also very grateful for the JoJo water tank they installed at our garden.”
