Coming
to life: Sinikithemba/UKZN Vegetable Garden
Project
 The
Sinikithemba Support Group vegetable garden was
initiated by the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s
student project volunteers in December 2004, and
it began with nothing except a patch of ground
– not even the money or supplies needed
to plant the garden.
The garden was created with and for the Support
Group, which is based at McCord Hospital in Durban,
with the aim of supplementing the food parcels
the Group receives from the McCord / Sinikithemba
/ HIVAN Feeding Scheme Project. This feeding scheme
was proposed in 2001 by four UKZN Psychology students,
and facilitated by the Centre for HIV/AIDS Networking
(HIVAN) and its Campus HIV/AIDS Support Unit in
partnership with McCord Hospital and the Sinikithemba
Care Centre. The scheme provides healthy food
packages to families affected by HIV/AIDS on a
regular basis. Funding for the scheme is provided
mostly through University staff members, who donate
a monthly amount that is deducted from their salary.
When the Vegetable Garden Project was in the
planning stages, student volunteers approached
academic departments on their campus and motivated
staff and students in a drive to raise money for
start-up costs. They raised R475, which covered
the purchase of basic materials for the garden:
manure, fertiliser, a hose-pipe, shade-cloth and
several garden tools. The students then planted
seedlings donated to the project by the Hillcrest
AIDS Centre Trust: spinach, beetroot, onions and
green pepper.
This year, when the students returned from their
year-end break, they found that the garden had
come to life, with the vegetables they'd planted
in December flourishing!
Through their generosity and willingness to help
- whether from their pockets or in the planting
- concerned members of the University community
have made the launch of this project a great success.
An ongoing donor awareness campaign is underway
to ensure that the produce from the garden, and
the provision of food parcels for the Support
Group members and their families, can be made
sustainable by continuous support throughout the
year.
For more information about the Vegetable Garden
Project and the Feeding Scheme, please contact
Dudu Zondi, HIVAN’s Community
Outreach Co-ordinator, on:
Tel: (031) 260 2132
or
e-mail on zondid2@ukzn.ac.za
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