Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2002. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Sunday Times (Johannesburg) - Sunday, 17 November 2002
Thabisile Gumede
The Grade five pupil is among 67 orphans who are acquiring gardening skills at the Umkhumbi ka Noah community centre at Swayimani, near Wartburg in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands.
Known by locals as Noah's Ark, the centre is the first of five such projects initiated by NOAH (Nurturing Orphans of Aids for Humanity), a non-governmental organisation.
The centre which opened in July, is headed by community leader Temba Mpungose, assisted by 10 volunteers, who teach the children subsistence farming methods or "survival gardening".
Ngcobo, who has been living with his grandparents since the recent death of his mother, wakes up at five in the morning and walks 3.5km to school.
When school ends at 3pm, he goes to the centre and does chores such as gardening, general cleaning and washing dishes.
In return, he and the other orphans are given a plate of hot food and something to drink.
Before the centre opened, Ngcobo often went home on an empty stomach.
"Sometimes I would have to go to school without a proper meal, because we didn't have enough money for food. Now I come to the centre every day after school and I have lunch and play with the other children.
"When we have eaten, we work in the garden, planting vegetables and making sure they grow well. Now I don't have to go to bed hungry," he says.
At the centre, the orphans tend six small gardens in which vegetables such as potatoes, cauliflower, peas, tomatoes and carrots are cultivated.
When they have completed their chores, they play computer games, using the centre's only computer, and enjoy a game of table tennis or soccer.
Another orphan, Simphiwe Ndlovu, 13, has been visiting the centre since it opened.
He says he is confident that, with the help of the centre, he will realise his dream of becoming a medical doctor.
"It makes such a big difference to my life to know how to plant my own vegetable garden.
"At the centre we have someone to talk to when we are sad or if we have problems.
"I don't feel like I have to keep my problems to myself, because if I talk about them, I can get help," he says.
Thabisile Malevu, a retired primary school teacher, is the supervisor of the centre.
She says gardening has proven therapeutic for the children, who often fight over the garden tools.
"They love working in the garden. Sometimes I have to shout at them to get them to leave the tools to go home in the evenings.
"Working in the garden teaches them self-reliance, because now they feel good about themselves. They also get to take seeds home to start their own gardens," she says.
There has been a marked difference in the children's behaviour since they first arrived at the centre.
"The most heartbreaking part of being a care-giver to these children is sharing their grief at losing their parents. A child will cry, and when I ask what's wrong, they say, 'I miss my mother.' "
Dr Gregory Ash, director and spokesman for NOAH, says the projects are focused on finding ways of helping orphans without removing them from their existing homes.
"The children still live in their parents' home after they have died, and they are under the foster care of a relative or the supervision of a trained volunteer," he says.
"Noah is essentially a community development project, so we try to avoid giving the children handouts, as it is costly, given high the number of orphans we have in this country.
"Handouts will not teach them independence and could perpetuate feelings of helplessness.
"We are not only concerned about the health of orphans but also their academic future.
"The organisation is currently negotiating with tertiary institutions to provide bursaries for deserving children who do not have funding to study further."
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