Help me turn a dump around
I’ve got an idea for changing town for the better, and for the good of all locals, but I’m going to need your help. There’s a space behind the fire department, in between there and the field behind Oatlands. It’s a dirty looking, dangerous feeling ex-dump site, fenced off and cleared down to a layer of rocks and hard clay soil – but it feels like a derelict space.
It’s a two-minute walk from town hall, and maybe five minutes from High Street, Bathurst Street and Pepper Grove mall. Every local finds themselves in the area at some time or another. In fact, one of its great benefits is that out-oftowners won’t realise there’s anything down there at all.
If we can work together, this time next year it could be the heart of a new feel to Grahamstown, tucked away where the locals have pride of access.
With Community Correctional Services providing labour, and the VGHS eco-club as our first school team, I want to take that dereliction and turn it into a park, that's a community and learning space.
Schools can send kids to learn about and maintain their own gardens and eco projects, connected by Feeding The Self guidance and materials.
Shop and municipal workers can go there and have their sandwiches in peace, surrounded by greenery. NGOs can use it for meetings and events. We could hold a regular market for local crafters and farmers. At Festival, we can use it as an exclusive space for local crafts and performers. Ideally, we would have a stall in the park for soft drinks and snacks, which would pay for a full-time park warden.
We’re working our way up the municipal chain to find someone to sign off on the idea. For now, all they really need to do is let us on to the space. There are other things they could provide – a JCB to rip up the tar, indigenous plants, staff, and so on – but what we need from them is minimal, in return for a huge PR win and a space where municipal workers could use to get some peace and quiet just round the corner. For everything else we need, people in the town have offered woodchips, labour, building services, and even some fundraising.
I won’t lie. It’s a big job. It’ll take months to rip up the tarmac, load in tons of soil and woodchip, and get our starter lucerne, clover and grasses in place to begin binding and healing the ground. Still, some of the clean-up activities will actually help there – The watercourse will need clearing up- and down-stream, which will provide us with lots of good bamboo for building things out of. Here’s a few of the things we’ll need:
• A lot of water, but plumbing in taps for irrigation should be simple.
• Cleaning – but the waste management department is adjoining.
• Tons of soil, and maybe a JCB to come and rip up the road. Help with that would make a massive difference to starting.
• If you’re from a school, the park will be a hub for Feeding The Self's educational gardening programmes and material. This means groups from 6 to 18 can find work that directly links to their academics (find out more about that from our website).
• If you’re from a business, we’ll need security. The pay-off for that is a surge in positive equity in the area, which is derelict and feels dangerous.
• If you have an organisa- tion that can raise funds, there are resources we’ll need to pay for. Aside from labour, we'll need snacks and drinks for workers, some tools, and other resources.
• Whether you’d like to help, or to use the space, or just see how you could get involved – please email or message me (I'm very unreliable when it comes to voice calls). I'll be doing updates in the column and online as it goes.
This is a thing that will be good for all of Grahamstown, for as long as people need a quiet space in town. It’ll create a bubble of indigenous plants and wildlife, and is so conveniently located that it’s bound to see good use. It won’t be easy, and it won’t be simple, and I certainly can’t do it myself.
If you want to get involved, contact me at chirag.patel@ feedingtheself.org or sms/ what’s app +27 735 578 909