I remember reading about a well known black emancipator by the name of Martin Luther King delivering the speech, “I Have a Dream”. Another well know international South African figure is Mr Nelson Mandela who spent 27 years at Robben Island because of his dream to seeing blacks getting freed from the shackles of the white regime in South Africa.

All the great achievers in this world dream, and work slowly towards achieving their dreams. But remember this, no one can achieve his or her vision alone. We need one another’s strength. The lady is appealing to your assistance in order for her to achive her dream. Here is her story:

Sthabile is Desperate

My name is Sthabile excellent Mbongwe I am 23 years old, I have been living my life dreaming that 1 day I will become a Tourist now that my dream is about 2 become true I am hoping n wishing that siyasizana will help me because i have applied 4 a student Loan at Standard Bank n they said that they will give the money but only if I bring d person who earns d salary of R5000 or someone who owns business as my surety because my mother earns less than that n I did find that person but on Thursday I got a call from them telling me that my Surety does not qualify because of something they won’t reveal 2 me and I have a problem now that i have 2 start at school on 25 January 2012. I will be very grateful if Siyasizana can b my Surety.

I have already paid the deposit of R10 000 my mom borrowed it at African Bank and now if don’t get the Surety the money that i have deposited they won’t refund me at school and if i don’t pay them at the end of January they will kick me out of school. Please Siyasizana I need your help. I will be doing National Certificate General Travel and National Diploma Retail. In first semester i will be doing these subject: Air Trave1-Domestic, Travel Operations, Selling Destination SA, Business Skills, Business Communication, Financial Management, Computer Skills, Sales and Marketing, Office Safety and Galileo. Second semester: Air Travel2-International, Travel Operation, Selling Destinations, Regional/International, Business Skills, Business Communication, Billing and Settlement Plan, Computer Skills, Sales and Marketing, Office Safety, Travel Correspondence, Wholesale, Event Support, Hotel Reception and Galileo. I will be doing them at Travel Learning Centre at Randpark Ridge. The course will take only 1year 6months.

Very simple and uncomplicated appeal. Ask your yourself after reading this. If God ask me one day, what I did to hel this lady achieve dream, what would be my answer?

Rember, “We are blessed to bless others”.

This is my final episode of the four part series about growing fresh organic food in the cities as well as in rural establishments.

With less and less land available in cities today, people are trying to make the most of the open space that are available. In Britain they have developed “seed bombs” and other simple ways to plant seeds covertly. “Please water me” signs have been placed some sites to encourage people to take ownership of these spaces.

Back in Durban, there has been a call for all citizens to start growing their own food to increase their own food security, to become healthier and to combat climate change by reducing the distances food is transported. Meanwhile, Martin Clement of the Durban Botanic Gardens regularly takes children out at night to garden a specific site in the city, getting them interested in gardening and beautifying the city. These initiatives show how we can all make an effort to beautify our open spaces in the city, to make unproductive space productive, and “take back forgotten gardens”. Municipalities have limited resources and cannot maintain our public open spaces; they are for the public after all!

Fresh Organic Food

1. Identify a piece of unused land in your community

2. Consult your local Parks Department to get access to the land

3. Do some research on permaculture techniques and planting sustainably. Paula Osborne at +27 (0) 84 444 4657 or earthfirst@absamail.co.za and Martin Clement at the Durban Botanic Garden, clementm@durban.gov.za, are specialist in planting sustainibily. Books to read include “Food Forests the Permaculture Way” by Geoff Lawton and “Guerrilla Gardening” by Richard Reynolds. An insightful documentary entitled “The Power of Community” on Cuba’s example how they Survived Peak Oil.

4. Plan an outline of the garden and consult th eParks Department to find out what kind of plants grow well together. Contact Manisha Arbuckle at arbucklem@durban.gov.za for advice.

5. Invlove businesses in your area to help fund seeds and garden tools for the initiative.

6. Involve your community (agricultural rural cooperatives). Have gardening fun days and get children involved.

7. Instead of food, you can plant flowers to beautify verges and open spaces. Make sure the plants are indigenous to the area so that indigeneous birds will be attracted and an outbreak of exotic plants does not occur.

8. Most of all have fun!

For more information see: www.guerrillagardening.org

Planing an assortment of vegetables and food tree in an organic manner, rather than a monoculture, creates a “food forest” that tries to emulate nature. This helps to prevent the soil being drained. By planting plants that complement each other, pesticides and chemicals can be avoided.

Citizen Vegetable Gardening

Frank and Tina decided to start small and advise others to do the same. But guerrilla gardening could certainly be done on a larger scale in Durban and by the agricultural cooperatives in rural areas, with people taking ownership of the spaces in their communities to beautify them and perhaps grow food for the of a particulr area. Tina and Frank have shown that this can be done and that with a bit of hard work, food can be grown in a sustainable way that helps tackle poverty and feed the communities.

Elsewhere in the world similar projects have been on the go for quite some time. The people in Cuba have put permaculture techniques to good use, transforming much unused spaces into food forestst. In 1989 when the Soviet Union fell, Cuba stopped receiving food from outside of the country. People started to grow food in open, unused spaces to address the food shortages. Over time government set guidelines and all the gardens became organic and made use of permaculture techniques. Today, up to 70% of Cuba’s frsh produce is grown that way and people are living healthier lives as they are working in their gardens and eating the organic food they produce.

In Britain most guerrilla gardening involves beautifyng areas with flowers and other plants to increase the aesthetic appeal of cities. There, guerrilla gardening is classified as “criminal damage”, which is why mostly takes place at night. For people without their own gardens, guerrilla gardening gives them a way to connect with nature and to produce something of beauty and of value to passersby in the city

As promised, here’s  my second article to the sequel “Citizen Vegetable Gardening“. It is written, “While the earth remains, seed time and harvest…shall not cease” NKJ. Please note that the same principle can be applied in rural areas by the rural agricultural cooperatives. They should grow their vegetation and supply the produce to the city markets.

With the guidance of Paula and Richard Pocok, and Geoff Lawton’s writings on permaculture, the garden has produced an abudant harvest. It has also generated much interest from the community and passerby smile, seeming to aknowledge the initiative. The people of the area are curious because the garden offers a different look to public open space. Tina and Frank have been open about the food being free and the garden is not fenced. They believe the food must be taken by those who need it – including the monkeys – and eaten, not sold.  At first, they had worried the food would end up being sold on the corner, but this hasn’t happened and the community seems to respect the garden.

Rural Cooperatives

Frank and Tina are keen for others to start food gardens too, but warned would- be gardeners that it takes enthusiasm and energy to succeed. The garden cannot be left to tend itself so expect a fair bit of work. Food gardeners are long-term initiative and to stay the distance the gardeners need to be passionate about uplifting their community and must have a love for the outdoors.

To be Continued….

I have been researching about growing organic food on small land and came across this valuable article detailing the assignment by Frank Edwards and Tina Thompson they embarked on. I decided to dissect it to readable chunks and post the article in parts. This information is also relevant to rural co-operatives to adopt and implement.

On a warm, sunny morning, on 28 May 2009 a small family started to dig up a patch of ground near their property. They wanted to put the ground to more productive use by starting a veggie garden. It would supply food free of charge to the community and give the people of the area something positive to talk about.

So at 8am in the suburb of  Berea, Durban, South Africa, Tina Thomson, Frank Edwards, Frank’s son Linden, little Angelo and Max began digging up a “grass desert park”. Guided by principles of permaculture and gardening in a sustainable fashion, the family began to plant an assortment of vegetable seedlings. After working for about two hours in the sun the family was “busted” by the Municipality’s Parks Department, the initiative was approved as it was seen as contributing to “community upliftment“

Fresh Organic Food

The idea to do a spot of “guerrilla gardening”, as it’s known in Britain, came about at a Sydenham Community Forum meeting. It was proposed that something should be done in that area to get people talking about the positive rather than the negative, and Tina and Frank were inspired to start the Berea garden.

When the two were interviewed in November 2009, the garden was doing well with a variety of vegetables and fruit trees. Vegetables had been planted along the contours of land, onto swales, which are depressions that help conserve water. A greywater harvesting system was set up to take used water from an outside shower at Tina and Frank’s home and lead it onto the garden. Rainwater was also being harvested and vermicomposting practised.

  Part 2 Coming Soon!

Ntsikelelo with a monoplane at the background

Being a pilot is one of the most enjoyable and fulfilling jobs I can think of. Whether one becomes an Air force pilot or simply takes a few lessons and gets their Private Pilot’s License, flying is something that has and always will fascinate us all. I’m currently a Student Pilot for a Private Pilot’s License (PPL) and I need a major support in terms of fees to pay for my studies and flying.

I want to be a pilot because I love flying, the view; I enjoy the challenges of doing a difficult and complex task safely. It’s something very few others can do, it a stable career, prestigious career (I know some won’t agree, but for me it is) and I think this would fulfill my life. The beauty of the aircraft (any plane, especially during take-off and landings) is very graceful. It’s a huge machine taking to the skies, from being a ground craft to an aircraft, the transition is always beautiful.

The science behind it, why does something that big, with no visible means holding it up; flying? How come a 200 ton thing full of people is flying through the air without falling? I wanted to know everything behind that magic and the dream I think every real pilot has one day.

I’m 20 years of age and I currently live at KwaMashu with my parents and my four siblings. I was born and raised in Durban. I grew up playing lots of sports and enjoyed all things. Since I’m coming from a very poor background family and finished my metric in a very disadvantage school which is called Mzuvele High School and I completed my metric in the year 2008, living in township area, it is not much easier for me to pay the fees for my studies and flying by myself. Life is difficult at home, my parents are both not working sometimes I even hardly to get the money for a transport to go to school. A support is something I’m looking up to. For me it is very hard to do other course or do something else because I cannot become something else besides being a pilot.

How did I get in here?

In 2007 while I was doing grade 11, one member of the city counselor from EThekwini Municipality came to our school to introduce this kind of project which is a Cadet Pilot Project that took place at Virginia Flight School, this flight school is located at Durban North. The project started by the selection process (short listing) of approximately 85 pupil including girls. As the selection went on and on whereby I had to pass all the aviation exams that we were given, by a pass mark of more than 75% in order to get through, but through the hard work and excellent result we did, only three pupils got admitted and I was the one of those pupils. It’s not about being lucky it all about dedication, love, commitment and immense passion I have for this kind of career. But since we have been started attending the full-time course they haven’t fund us.

I started to attend the full-time course which is a Private Pilot’s License in earlier January last year in the best well known flight school in the country which is called Virginia Flight School. We initially train for a Private Pilot’s License involving between 40 and 70 flying hours, a theoretical examination and a practical flight test. With a PPL I can fly for recreation purposes, but I may not fly for reward (either monetary or in kind). I’ve gone so far well with my studies, I’ve already flew on solo flight and I have 43.7 hours of flying and I’ve finished all 8 theoretical exams and I’m left with some few flying in order to get my Private Pilot’s License and move into the next License which is called a Commercial Pilot’s License (CPL), once I finished my PPL.

I Love Flying Aeroplanes - click on me to see a bigger image

In Commercial Pilot’s License I will have to pass a more stringent aviation medical examination, build up a further 200 hours of flying experience, pass theoretical examinations laid down by the SACAA (South African Civil Aviation Authority), complete an instrument flying rating and pass the CPL flight test. My own ability and commitment will determine how long it takes to obtain the CPL. The minimum period is nine months, but more often it takes two years. The amount of money that I need in order to further my studies is R350, 000. I’m seeking for some help from anyone.

Being honestly the salary Pilots make is another thing I like. They make money than they know what to do with. This is because most people think that Plane is dangerous except Pilots don’t because they know how easy it is. Another best part I like about being a pilot is that you get to see the world, travel all over and meet new people. Pilots are known for being able think well under stress and multi-task. Playing sports is one of the best ways to develop these attributes.
No one had became something big in my family I think this would be a greatest gift or a blessing for them, but to me it would be a dream come true.

During our home visits, we try and identify families with older parents who have no one to offer them basic human needs, also those homes that are run by orphans. As caregivers we not only care for them, but when arriving in their homes we also attend to their ill children and grandchildren. We provide them with home nursing, feed them, clean their houses and cook for them if the need arises.

In many cases we as caregivers will refer some cases to the organization’s paralegal practitioners that will assist with, for instance, application for ID documents, birth certificates for their grandchildren, application for child support grants, pensions, etc. Mostly these households do not have anything to eat; we would provide them with food parcels.

Mrs. M Dangazela (widow) , aged 63yrs Supervisor

At Illovo we have developed a very good relationship with Mrs. M Dangazela who is a widow but a woman with a vision. This woman has five children of her own. One of her sons is mentally challenged, a daughter is physically challenged. Out of the remaining three sons, only one is working. Two are unemployed. Besides this burden, she started a Day Care Centre next to her house to care for the young children of the surrounding working community. The number of these kids has astronomically grown to be seventy. So far she has provided employment to five caregivers.

Corrugated Classroom, kids are exposed to extreme weather conditions

She uses two informal structures and her garage which serve as classrooms. The majority of these kids are HIV/AIDS carriers. Some suffer from Tuberculosis. Mrs. M Dangazela is semi-illiterate and likewise encounters countless setbacks to run her Centre effectively.

Wooden Classroom, kids are exposed to extreme weather conditions

Siyasizana Community Development is raising funds to help improve the existing informal structures used as Day Care Centre to insulated containers. We also discovered that there is food shortage in the Centre due to late payment or non-payment of fees by the low income parents. The five caregivers that work with her are very much demotivated by the inconsistency of their salaries. Mrs. M Dangazela who also acts as a supervisor, cooks for the kids in her own house; allow the kids to use her bathroom as the Centre structures have none.

Interesting facts about Orphans and Vulnerable Children

One of the most tragic results of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in South Africa is the rapidly growing number of children made vulnerable or orphaned by HIV/AIDS. In 2004, an estimated 2.2million children had lost either one or both their parents – Department of Health 2007:28. The number of orphans in the country more than doubled between 2003 and 2006 – Department of Health 2007:34.

According to the National Strategic Plan on HIV/AIDS 2007 – 2011 – Department of Health, 2007:29, “The worst affected children – those in deeply impoverished households  – experience various forms of physical, material and psychosocial deprivation and assaults on their health as a result of lack of parental care and nurturing environment. Often these children are separated from caregivers and siblings and sent to stay with other relatives or other cares or social networks”.

My name is Sifiso Mdletshe and I am 20 years old young man who lives in Durban. I became interested in aero-planes at a very young age. Each time a plane flew above my home I would stop and stare at the sky until it vanished. The idea of becoming a pilot truly caught my attention in grade 6 when the class had a discussion on careers and I realized that no one wanted to become a pilot. I went on to do research and I made a shocking discovery that this career only catered for children from very wealthy families, not for disadvantaged children like myself and many others which made me realize that the democracy we attained in 1994 has not yet reached our communities in areas like this one.

This discovery did not kill my passion but it got me even more fired up. In grade 11 I received the opportunity to do my work experience at Durban International Airport where I got to interact with the pilots and learn more about the fascinating work they do. I believe that to be a pilot requires  a lot of hard work, passion, and  great deal of discipline. Piloting is more than just a lucrative  career and   to be a pilot means more than just a big paycheck at the end of the month.  I understand that piloting  is stress-full and draining at times, it has its advantages and disadvantages like any other career and it also requires you to strive for perfection because people’s lives are always at stake, therefore I need to be in it for the right reasons.

In 2009 I took part in a selection course that was organized by Durban Municipality in partnership with Virginia Flight School, not only to attain financial aid for my pilot training but to also gain insight on the type of work I will be expected to do and the standard of marks I will have to maintain. In the beginning I thought the selection course was just to determine whether or not we are worthy of a bursary but judging from the lectures and exams we’ve had over the past few months I realized that the course was also there to assess whether or not this is the right career for each of us and if we are doing it for the correct reasons. I expected that by the end of the course I would have had an idea of the kind of work I’ll be dealing with in the future and if I will be able to cope with it or not.

There were sixty of us when the selection process began and we were finally reduced to four. We did a final exam of which I passed but the Durban Municipality withdrew from the partnership due to lack of funds.
I deserve this opportunity because I understand what is required of me right now and I also know what will be required of me in the future. I don’t see myself doing anything else besides piloting and it’s been my dream for a long time now but I want it to be more than just a dream and that is why I am willing to do anything and everything I can to achieve this goal, and make my dream a reality. I have proven my dedication and commitment to my piloting career with the level of marks I attained during the selection course that we did through Virginia Flight School. I was at the top of my class and if given the opportunity, I will work even harder to maintain the level of marks needed for me to be successful in this career

I appeal to companies and  individuals to sponsor TOWARDS THIS COURSE THROUGH AN NGO CALLED SIYASIZANA WHICH HAS PARTNERED WITH VIRGINIA FLIGHT SCHOOL TO HELP US.

The program offers the Cadets the chance to become pilots. For the cadets, this will be their dream career and they would not be able to achieve it on their own accord. Working and learning at Virginia Flight School introduce the students to a network of select individuals known as piloting community. Being part of this community will open doors for them in their future careers. Virginia Flight School is comprised of pilots and teachers who consider themselves as a family who are committed to offer continued support to their students.

All of the young candidates that apply for the Cadet Program would, by themselves, never be able to afford the costs involved in getting a Pilot’s License. Out of the many applicants that were put through the very strict selection process, there were candidates that stood out the most.

The training thus far has been stalled by the insufficiency of funds and unfortunately trainee pilots have to wait until monies start flowing in, for them to continue with training.

Please be so kind to contribute by  Clicking Here or contact us : siyasizana@gmail.com for further information regarding financial contribution.

“We support the footballers and their fans in calling on all world leaders to do their part to ensure every child can go to school. We need to see action at the World Cup and beyond. By acting now, together we can ensure education for all.” President Jacob Zuma. South Africa Host, 2010 World Cup.

The 13-time Grammy Award-winning R &b B diva co-funded the Keep a Child Alive (KCA) project which is based at The Blue Roof Wellness Centre, south of Durban.

Alicia Keys in Durban

Keys said the state-of-the art centre, which provides Aids treatment and care, was a run down night club before it was transformed into a sanctuary of health for Wentworth residents.

Key praised Durbanites for lending a helping hand to the clinic and encouraged her audience to continue volunteering their time to maintaining the clinic.

“I have not been to South Africa since 2006 and during the past our years KCA has made incredible progress in serving more than 250 000 people infected and affected by Aids. So thank you all, especially the staff who are committed to this project.”

Mayor Obed Mlaba congratulated Keys on her milestone in developing a centre that has made a positive impact on the lives of many families. “HIV and Aids is  the main killer, especially of our young people, and the government is engaged in programmes to deal with effects of the pandemic on our communities.” Mlaba said.

Mlaba said The Blue roof Centre could be used to foster family values and give guidance to young people. “I want to thank you, Ms Keys, your family and the partners for such a generous donation, which has turned this once notorious night spot into a community centre that is contributing positively to this community.”