WESSA Glencore report 2022

Stories of Change Besilindile Primary School

Kromdraai

OUR PROJECTS The team established a biodiversity garden together with a food garden with the use of old tyres as planters. The team sowed a variety of vegetable seeds and the school has been receiving a continual food supply from the garden till now The project managed to feed over a thousand learners including the school staff through the school feeding scheme project was spearheaded by Mr Vincent Mogau Mokheseng. His passion for sustainable living and having a holistic view for the environment was embedded growing up in a community where each household had a food garden, which had the potential of improving food security and nutritional food diversity and less malnutrition.

ECO JOURNEY Besilindile Primary School is a non-fee school situated in a vibrant and colourful community of Emalahleni in Mpumalanga. The school was established in 1996, built by the community philanthropist through the donation of building materials as the school lacked structure for the pupils. It was later recognized and adopted by the Department of Education In 2002 as a public institution as we have today. The journey began upon receiving a circular with an invitation to attend a workshop at Kroomdraai Primary School. Besilindile Primary embraced this amazing opportunity for their school and eagerly accepted to be part of the initiative with warm hands and attended the workshop. The school became part of the WESSA Glencore Eco-Schools Project four years ago and the

Eco-School Awards

what you sow but also educational through the humility of gardening by gaining faith, confidence and commitment, as well as understanding how to achieve short- and long-term goals.

IMPACT IN OUR SCHOOL

The knowledge was then passed on to the school staff and now majority of the learners and the school staff started food gardens with the usage of waste material and tyres at home. The aim is to alleviate poverty, constitute the sustainable development goal (SDG) 2 and improve mental health as gardening is a form of exercise which advocates for health and wellbeing. The team focused on food gardens and planting of indigenous species under the biodiversity theme which is incorporated in the school curriculum helping to reduce the school’s carbon footprint Mr Mokheseng expressed that despite many attempts, the journey would not have been a success without the partnership, determination, compassion and willingness of Mr Ngwenya’s to assist struggling schools. Besilindile Primary is working on expanding their projects and getting the Foundation phase learners more involved to keep on planting green seeds.

The learners have developed skills for growing food and learnt that gardening is not only about reaping

eMalahleni Glencore Eco-Schools Project: IMPACT REPORT 2022 9