Greetings to all our friends and supporters!

Welcome to our summer 2011 newsletter. As always the Grootbos Foundation has lots of good news to share. Our website has recently been integrated into the Grootbos site and we are sharing our news through a regular blog. So if you would like to be kept up to date with our latest happenings then please log on to www.grootbos.com and view the Foundation page for all our news.

We are also very proud to announce the publication of our book: FIELD GUIDE TO THE FLORA OF GROOTBOS NATURE RESERVE AND THE WALKER BAY REGION. The book is the result of 13 years of botanical research on Grootbos by Sean Privett and Heiner Lutzeyer. It describes 410 of the 765 species recorded on the Reserve. Each species is accompanied by a vivid photograph taken by Heiner as well as a full description of the plant, its ecology and uses. The book also provides background to the Grootbos story as well as the work of the Grootbos Foundation. If you would like to order a copy please contact foundation@grootbos.co.za.

VIOLA PASSES ALL OF HER EXAMS!

Well done to Viola Siyotywa for passing all of her exams! Viola, who was a Green Futures student in 2006, has completed her Higher Diploma in Adult Basic Education and Training at the College of Human Sciences. This Diploma enables her to teach and train adults. As from the beginning of the year Viola was officially appointed as the life skills trainer for the Growing the Future College and computer trainer for the Green Futures College. We are extremely proud of Viola and wish to thank the Raimondo Foundation for their ongoing support of her training and development. Viola’s graduation ceremony is in July.

Grootbos Foundation hosts Kevin Austin from the Eden Project

We were privileged to host Kevin Austin from the Eden Project at the end of 2010. As part of our partnership with Eden (whereby Eden funds and hosts three students and staff member each year) Kevin who is the supervisor of the outdoor biome at Eden spent a month sharing his knowledge and experiences with our students and staff.

On his return Kevin sent us his thoughts of his experience in a letter, an extract of which is included below:

'The pests and climatic conditions are a test to the plants and people alike, in the UK we moan about slugs, caterpillars and rain; you have the snakes, baboons, tortoises and huge moles to name a few, and of course the persistent eroding wind to contend with. I feel I have gained a much closer understanding of how the Green Futures and Growing the Future models work and will follow with great interest there continued development. Had a fantastic time on the Table Mountain visit and Shark cage diving, thanks once again. May the sun keep shining, the rains come when needed and the winds to stay moderate!’

We would like to thank Kevin and the Eden Project for his visit, sharing his knowledge, getting his hands dirty and being an inspiration to all of us. Thanks Kevin.

A Spaza shop on Grootbos

Yolisa Gaqela was one of the lucky Green Futures students who visited the Eden Project in 2010. She was so impressed by the experience that she returned with the idea of developing a site on Grootbos profiling South Africa’s cultures and how people traditionally relied on plants.

We at the Foundation have got behind her idea and as a first step are assisting her to develop a traditional Xhosa Spaza shop on Grootbos. Here she will sell fresh produce from the Growing the Future project as well as traditional clothing and fynbos products. Together with the Green Futures students she is planting a garden around the Spaza shop that will include edible, medicinal and other useful fynbos plants.

We are really excited about this project and Yolisa’s commitment to fulfilling her idea. We are in the process of fundraising for various items to get Yolisa started.

If you would like to assist this budding entrepreneur, please contact us at 028 384 8048 or Foundation@grootbos.co.za

Growing the Future Students visit Abalimi Bezekhaya

The Growing the Future students recently visited "Abalimi Bezekhaya" in Cape Town. We visited a community garden in Nyanga, where women from the township produce vegetables to generate an income for themselves. Beautiful brinjals, tomatoes, onions, carrots and basil, to name but a few, could be seen in the garden! After the community garden visit, we went to the pack shed of "Harvest of Hope" in Philippi. The vegetables produced by twenty community gardens are sorted, washed and packed in individual boxes which can be ordered on a weekly basis.

"Harvest of Hope" collects the produce from the gardens and distributes it to collection points in the Southern Suburbs of Cape Town. We then visited a demonstration garden centre of Abalimi in Nyanga where people can find out how to grow vegetables. It was a great day out for the students and an inspiration to our students and staff alike. For more information visit www.abalimi.org.za.

Please contact foundation@grootbos.co.za for more information!

We would like to extend our sincerest thanks and appreciation to all our supporters and donors without whom these projects would not have been possible!

http://www.grootbos.com
Tel: +27 28 384 8044
Fax: +27 28 384 8100st