A school grows vegetables to assist needy children

  “Growing  vegetables is not only about fresh food  but it also  about making money . I want to thank my teachers  for buying me this warm jacket. It is cold now and I nearly dropped out of school because I did not have  anything  to protect myself  against the cold”, says Tanki (12) in a maroon jacket. Tanki  is the second in the family four in a child headed household.

“ Even if I come to school  having had no breakfast , at least  I know that I will have something to eat at school. Sometimes my teachers give me a take home ration after school”

Teachers at Makokoane primary school within Kota ADP, believe that growing vegetables is the best solution to respond to needs of children who come from child headed families. They feel , the primary school feeding that was introduced by government as part of free primary education, does not necessarily respond to the rest to the children's needs.

" I felt we needed to do something about the children who came to school without school shoes  or any other needs that exposed them. We therefore decided to grow vegetables  as a means to get money to buy these children their school needs." reveals the school principal Mr. Charles Sibeko.

The school is challenged by poor performance as a result of poor attendance. Many children come from child headed families .

" Many come to school late, others do not turn up at all, because they need to take care of other young siblings  at home. We started this vegetable production as a means to raise funds  that will motivate children who come from such families. They start by absenting themselves from school and when we make  follow ups we discover that  they  needed some motivation , and thanks to  the efforts by the executive committee members  of WV, they help a great deal is sporting children who have household difficulties and we join hands to see how help them ." he added .

 “This year alone we were able to help close to 10 pupils, by bying them shoes, others uniform”, thanks to the seeds that were given to us by World Vision., he concluded.