The Parkies Rangers, a chapter of the Girl Guides at Florida Park High School, is playing their part in alleviating hunger at the school.

Zimasa Gqibani, a teacher and Parkies Rangers co-ordinator, said that, while learning about nutrition during one of their regular challenges, the idea came about to plant a veggie garden at the school.

“Any teacher will tell you that it is next to impossible to teach a hungry child. For some of the children, the only real meal they get in a day is at school.

“Since we are a fee-paying school, we do not qualify for the government’s school feeding programme, and so we have decided that we will have to help ourselves.”

Zimasa wasted no time – or effort – in getting the school to agree, and soon a small piece of land on school grounds was secured for the purpose.

In late August, Nicole Mortlock, owner of Back2Basics, an NGO based in Toekomsrus, met up with the Parkies Rangers to teach them about staple vegetables, which grow easily and quickly, provide maximum nutrition, and can be harvested year-round.

After an in-depth discussion, and armed with a variety of seeds, growing trays and growing medium, they set out, first exploring the future site of their vegetable garden, and then planting their seeds in trays, from where they will be transplanted into the garden once the seedlings are strong enough.

“We are very excited about this project,” Zimasa says. “The girls are enthusiastic and happy that their efforts will bear real-world results.”