TSHIKOTA – A flourishing multi-purpose gardening project at the Masedi School in Tshikota is being jeopardized by water problems, caused by a defunct borehole.

Project leader Mr T B Mudau with class teacher Ms K T Rammutla, involved junior learners in an extended vegetable gardening project on the school grounds.

“Within the context of Outcomes Based Education, the aim is to impart gardening skills at an early age to the children, to enable them to fend for themselves later on,” Mr Mudau says.

“We also utilize the vegetables for our school’s feeding scheme. The Tshikota community includes a large number of very poor people and we also have tragic examples of some of our orphaned learners who are in fact the sole breadwinners for their families. They are also supplied with fresh vegetables from our project. We intend to get jobless parents involved in the school’s horticultural project, to assist in the running of the project and to share in the harvest. Additional sale of the surplus vegetables could help the school fund, which does not receive much from the impoverished community.”

The extended vegetable garden on the school grounds was initially irrigated from a tank on a stand on the school premises, which received water from a municipal borehole al-most a kilometre away from the school.

“Because we have no supervision over the borehole installation, the pump was stolen and our water supply ended. If we could get a borehole on the school grounds, it would help immensely to make our project more viable and sustainable. The school grounds are security fenced and proper supervision over all installations on the grounds is possible.”