SIYA NTSUMPA

Food gardens do so much more than just supply food; they teach children to look after something, teach respect and provide them with the joy of knowing that they can look after their families.

Apart from the award-winning food gardens Siya Ntsumpa has helped to set up, he also runs recycling programmes at schools in the Eastern Cape. Ntsumpa is a great believer in the impact teaching children to grow vegetables has on their lives.

“Our driving motto is to make sure that the children understand that nothing must go to waste,” he said.

“Our food gardens became very important during the hard lockdown as the children knew there was something there to feed their families. They would often ask if they could go to the garden to get food.”

Ntsumpa started off by volunteering as a teacher, which he did for seven years.

“I am from a family of teachers. Sometimes they had up to 150 children in a class. I started volunteering to help out. I also realised that there were no extracurricular activities for the children, and also that they came to school hungry,” he said.

“That is what started me in the food gardens. I had R200 and no job. But I could do research on how to start a non-profit. For two years I really struggled.”

When he was no longer needed as a volunteer at the school, it started the ball rolling for him. “I wanted to do something that would benefit the children,” he said.

“When they help with food gardens they learn respect, and what it is to look after another living thing. We teach them what responsibility looks like.

“It is interesting to me that the teachers would report remarkable improvement in the children’s behaviour once they are involved in the food garden.

“Some of the children who helped me in the first food garden are now in their first year at university and we would often talk about their journey,” he said.

“This is a country where young people need programmes that will nurture them and help them mature. I know all of the children by name. Many of them grow up in their grannies’ houses. Young men need strong male role models,” he said. “I know because I was raised by a single mom myself.”

He believes “young people should stop complaining and find a solution – but also consider what it is like to walk in someone else’s shoes”.

When he is not gardening Ntsumpa loves to have some coffee with friends. “I recycled a lot of things to pay for my special travel coffee cup. Nothing should go to waste.”

Liziwe Kate, the deputy principal of Elufefeni Primary School in Motherwell, said Ntsumpa’s food gardens went a long way towards boosting their nutrition programme.

“He is a remarkable young man. He has a big influence on our school. Most of our parents are unemployed. Most of our learners come from an informal settlement. Their parents are not working ... With Siya’s garden we are benefiting as a school because we have a lot of fresh vegetables to give our learners,” she said.

She had great admiration for the way he was able to use each child’s unique abilities.