Painting the Shaka’s Head township green

Driven by an ambition to no longer live in squalor and restore the green lungs to their home, a group of Shaka’s Head women will stop at nothing to turn their township into an environmentally friendly place and make an income at the same time.

Last December the 16-strong group led a clean-up campaign through the streets to clean dumpsites and streams around their township.

Like the pied piper they were joined by more than 50 residents who were able to more than fill the two skips provided for the campaign.

While many people have continued to dump their waste, the women refuse to give up and have embarked on two projects to further their mission: a vegetable garden and a recycling project.

“We will keep on cleaning our township and make use of the land that was used as a dumpsite, until residents realise the importance of having an environmentally friendly township,” said Nomvula da Silva.

They hope the garden will one day be one of many. Producing vegetables like cabbages, brinjal, beetroot, tomatoes, chillies and peppers, they sell the produce in the township and use the remainder to put food on the table as the majority of them are unemployed.

“Our vision is that no land should be unprofitable. It should either be a park for people to enjoy or a garden that can feed the hungry.

“We hope that more women will join us soon as we want to plant more vegetables around the township,” said da Silva.

Once we have enough produce we could supply supermarkets and restaurants.

While eleven of the sixteen women are busy with the garden, the other five are on a mission to collect plastic bottles for recycling.

Recycling goes hand in hand with their vision because the women have realised that one man’s waste is another woman’s treasure. However they have not sold any of the collected plastic bottles because they feel they have not collected enough.

In support of the initiative, Shaka’s Head councillor Mlamuli Ndlela allocated them a plot of land.

This has motivated them to start collecting other forms of waste, such glass, plastic and paper that can also be exchanged for cash.

However, project leader Thandeka Mfeka said they will have to wait until the land is fenced and they have at least a container to keep their waste because if they start now, the waste could easily be stolen.

“If anyone is able to help us it would wonderful,” said Mfeka.

She thanked everyone who has supported them so far, including Karen Hullet and the departments of environmental affairs and agriculture.

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