Micro-farming among the poor Cape Town

Dear GlobalGiving Friends,

Young people in their millions are walking the streets in South Africa - up to 40% of people under the age of 35 are unemployed! 

It could be a catastrophe and surely a recipe for revolution. But there is real HOPE! 

Hundreds of thousands of these young people are not just sitting around waiting for a job. They are creating a new, vibrant South Africa where they are self-employed and even employ many others. 

And this is happening in our micro-farming movement among the poor! These young men in the picture are the founders of a community garden called Feed the Khaltsha, begun in 2020. They say: 

“In the future, we want to expand production, get more land, grow the local market, sell to hospitals and supermarkets, open our own soup kitchen for the poor, teach the poor to garden and contribute to overcoming crime through creating gardens that keep young people – especially young men – occupied instead of wandering the streets. We want to recruit more young farmers!“

If any of you come to visit Cape Town, please pop in and I will take you to meet them and many other new young farmers, who have been flooding into the movement since Covid began!

They are truly "the hope of our nation" and I for one am not going anywhere - South Africa is such a vibrant thrumming hive of activity,  if you look at the "ordinary" people on the ground, instead of the oddballs who are criminals, corrupt or incompetent.

So, thanks for staying with us on our journey - our "long walk to freedom", as Mr Mandela famously said it.

SA has a brilliant constitution, all the excellent rights anyone could wish for, and a hard working and ingeniuos groundswell of Young Farmers who are inspiring hundreds more, and they, others and so on.

Happy Christmas one and all- or , if you prefer- may your year end be full of joy and fun.

Very best

Rob Small

co-founder Abalimi