Herbs make the community of Zandspruit grow



Ideas are constantly flowing and leading to new and exciting initiatives at the HOPE centre in Zandspruit. One of the newest blooming projects is to involve and educate local community members and patients from the HOPE Centre clinic about healthier cooking - through a wonderful smelling and lush herb garden!


The driving force behind this continuously growing project is Project HOPE program coordinator Refilwe L. Maseko who saw an unused space on the premises of The HOPE Centre’s site at Emthonjeni Community Centre and made her vision to help the community into a reality.

“I saw an interest from the community to get involved, for them to earn a bit extra money and a possibility for further ways to increase the health awareness that’s already the high focus for the HOPE centre. We started small but the interest of the garden has been high, so our garden has grown in to a fantastic lush jungle of herbs.”
Kopano Garden Herbs project reaps many benefits. The Kopano garden has had the benefit of motivating patients and local community members to use more herbs in their daily food which helps to reduce salt and spice intake. Additionally, the joy and pride garden members experience working together on the project has enabled them to maintain a well-run and profitable group. As garden members sell the produce from the garden, the proceeds are shared and the extra income each member makes from selling the organic herbs to the local community has made this project a local success!

“We also teach our patients about the healthy use of herbs in the food and it’s a possibility to learn how to use these nice smelling and tasting herbs for both cooking and healing purposes.” – says Refilwe L. Maseko
Local restaurants now have the opportunity to buy organic herbs and contribute to the Zandspruit community
The garden team has already branched out and has started to sell their organic herbs to local restaurants and organisations. Thus, opportunities for garden members are increasing and the garden team hopes that increasing interest from restaurants will contribute new resources and opportunities for income generation to the community of Zandspruit.
Today the herbs available for sales are; rosemary, thyme, basil, chives, rocket and sage and within a near future the garden will expand with; garlic, lavender, mint, lemon grass and lemon balm.

Please contact Refilwe L. Maseko for further information about Kopano Garden Herbs or for purchasing any of the organic herbs.
Email: rmaseko@projecthope.org
Phone:
060 66 80 967/ 076 133 84 26

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