It is said that the garden speaks a universal language that everyone can understand, no matter what part of the Earth a person lives on, or what Faith, Nationality, Political Persuasion, Age, Profession, or Income. In essence the entirety of the above are pertinent to the garden, as they all require care for sustainability to flourish. The returns of great care provide the rewards of nourishment. The Sylvia Kivetts Garden initiated by Pangaea Young Explorers undertakes the divine venture of commitment in nurturing and care in return for the rewards of sustainability i.e. for nourishment towards our daily feeding scheme within the community. This garden can be modelled on Sylvia Kivetts and the educators at Fontein Combined School and their commitment to healing the souls of a community with so little to look forward to due to abject poverty. A garden, with every turn of the shovel and movement of the soil will promote growth to the garden and it is our ultimate dream to motivate our learners as they watch it grow, so that they can go home and sow positive seeds as just the one little step to healing their home situations.

Monday dated the 20th August I undertook to take my Grade 6 Natural Science class to the garden. The sole aim was to expose them to the garden firstly complemented by explaining how the process of photosynthesis takes place within the leaves of plants. This in essence was an extremely pragmatic approach to a teaching methodology.

Littering is a major issue in this particular environment. Thanks to Pangaea we know have over 30 cement bins around the school. As a staff establishment we have thus undertaken to place emphasis on cultivating a habit of consistency in our plight to keeping our environment clean. Once a week respective classes are given the opportunity to clean the school area. By doing this exercise we hope that our younger generation in turn will adopt a culture of pride and care towards their environment at large.

The seeds have all sprouted and the garden looks full of promise. A roster has been set up for classes to do duty in the garden, like watering and weeding. This has already started. The seedlings have sprouted into thick clumps which will have to be transplanted once the stems are sturdier. Teachers have started to utilize the garden for their Science lessons too and Miss Bouah took her class out yesterday to present her photosynthesis lesson. We look forward to your visit in October. (Pam Mias)

written by Taryn Bouah