Market Garden – Acacia Park
Mrs Tracy Adkins is a resident at Acacia Park, a housing development built and run by Capital City Housing NPC. Mrs Adkins is passionate about community development, and saw an opportunity to start projects to benefit the Acacia Park community. One of the projects that Mrs Adkins identified as a possibility was a community garden, which she then communicated to Mr Ivor Caldecott, the CEO of Capital City Housing NPC.
Overwhelmed by the CEO’s positive response, Mrs Adkins made contact with Mr Byron Abrahams, who is the company’s Community Development Officer. Mrs Adkins, who is an employee of Gift of the Givers Foundation, is highly motivated and inspired by the several projects the Gift of the Givers Foundation already has in operation. She approached her Operations Manager, Mr Salim Sayed, to assist their garden project.
Mr Sayed met with Mr Abrahams without hesitation at Acacia Park, and together they identified the best piece of ground for gardening. Gift of the Givers Foundation, together with Capital City Housing NPC, have created a partnership to assist the unemployed through a self-sustaining garden project, which has already benefitted from the provision of seeds , fertilizers, fencing, and a 1000L water tank from Gift of the Givers Foundation.
Mr Abrahams said “Community Development is central to the ethos of Capital City Housing. We are grateful to have a partner such as Gift of the Givers Foundation, which has so generously provided us with seeds for the garden, as well as fertizlizers and a water tank. We look forward to a closer relationship as we work together to improve the lives of all our tenants”.
Mr Julian Mngomezulu is a resident of Acacia Park, and while currently unemployed, is a volunteer at the Acacia Park Garden. The children of Acacia Park are also a great and enthusiastic source of help. Many of their parents are unemployed or receive a small income, so Gift of the Givers Foundation generously provided nutrition and detergent packs to their parents. The Acacia Park Garden project is for the entire Acacia Park community, and will benefit all tenants as it grows from success to success over the months and years to come.
