Creating Change Launch Kitchen Garden Classroom at Marine Primary, Ocean View

[Liesel James]

On Thursday 8 December Creating Change launched their kitchen classroom with the Environmental Club of Marine Primary.

For the record Little Green Fingers has evolved into Creating Change. This is due to another company with the same name in Gauteng and has caused confusion before.

Creating Change has a vision to uplift and skill up the youth of Ocean View by creating a Youth Life Centre accessible to all the children in the neighborhood.

Currently Creating Change is running a Youth Development and Sustainability Programme to the Marine Primary Environmental Club in Ocean View with Mortimer Petersen the founder of the club. This sprouted out of a garden programme which started in 2009, sponsored by ABSA and facilitated by Liesel James whilst contracting for Food & Trees For Africa. During this time she recognized a need to to link the garden to a kitchen cooking class, teaching them how to prepare food and also good nutrition. These classes demonstrate renewable cooking methods through solar cooking and hotboxes.  The course also offers natural building skills and environmental studies. Creating Change also has an alliance with Global Gardens in the USA where we have started a pen-pal link with Echo Horizon School and the kids have exchange letters as well as a skype call. (For most of these kids it was their first online experience – see attach pics – was awesome!)

In September this year Creating Change received funding from the Ackerman Foundation, covering gardening material, tools, rainwater tank, solar cookers and the most important kitchen equipment. This was the best investment thus far as we have proper tools to teach these kids. Even though we are still working on raising money for wages and salaries, classes were given every Friday afternoon to between 16 and 33 kids.

We have had great sponsorship from the community as well and great discounts from certain suppliers and would like to express our gratitude to all of them:

• Burglar Bar Studio has sponsored our burglar bars and security gate to the value of R6000 TO ensure our equipment is safe and secure.
• Spur Steak Ranches has sponsored a fridge and kitchen equipment.
• Gail and Steve Coetzee from Porter Market have given us their used kitchen cupboards.
• Better Than the Rest Renovation sponsored used kitchen cupboards.
• Chelsea Garden and Home has sponsored kitchen equipment.
• Bosch RSA gave us R7000 discount towards a gas stove
• David Cotton, Trick Design
• Bounce Design for logo and web design (still under construction).
• KEAG – Kommetjie Environmental Awareness Group – assisting with renovation of classroom.
• Penny Pinchers Long Beach gave us lots of discounts and assisted with cutting to size for free.
• Healthmakers gave us 20 % discount on all equipment.

The Power of Community – what can I say!

Part of the program was to clear all rubble around the classroom area to prepare for planting early next year which the Marine Primary Environmental Club is doing presently in preparation for the launch. The kids have been phenomenal the last 3 years and with Mr Mortimer Peterson have done most of the work in the garden and are helping with the renovation of the classroom and putting up the fence.

We invited all our current and previous sponsors to come and share our first lunch there together and to thank them for helping us with our vision for Ocean View.  Leonora Sauls from the Ackerman Foundation attended and also Joe Stead and Dominique Bolus from Spur Steak Ranch Group who have been behind us since our very first clean up almost 3 years ago.

Creating Change recently teamed up with professional soccer coach Nash Booysen from Nash Soccer Academy who has been teaching soccer to approximately 100 kids every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon for the last 5 years. We are very excited about this relationship as we share the same vision and passion to educate and support the youth of Ocean View and help them into a sustainable future ahead. Through this vision we can assist children to not get involved in substance abuse which is the greatest problem in Ocean View.

I belief now that we have the right team onboard to Create the Change and attract the funding that is needed to reach the whole of Ocean View and of course make it sustainable for us who have been volunteering the last few years.

If anyone would like to get involved they can contact me directly and I will forward our proposal.

Lastly I would also like to thank Envirochild who has given us the support we needed and helped us whilst we were registering our own entity.

Kind regards,

Liesel



Liesel James   
Mb:     [phone]
Email: [e-mail]
          [e-mail]
Web:  www.creatingchange.org.za

Empowering children become sustainable.

The power of community is positive change!  
                                                                     

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