A Westlake non-profit organisation has transformed an illegal dump into a food garden for the community.
The vacant plot of municipal land on Eagle Close fronts Fiscus Street and borders Reddam House Constantia’s sports field at its back, and there are two homeowners on either side. Residents say it was once an eyesore and dumping was not the only illegal activity taking place.
Stephanie Martin, who lives on Eagle Close, says things are ten times better now.
“People would either throw everything possible there or used to make fires on the field. At one point, we had to call the fire department twice because one of the residents decided to make a fire too close to the opposite neighbour’s wall.”
Ms Martin said loiterers on the property would smoke dagga and the smell would often waft into her house, which concerned her with two children living in her home.
The fires, she said, had made doing the washing difficult as their clothes would end up smelling of smoke. She is happy now as long as the field stays “perfectly clean”.
Anthea Thebus, the Women of Westlake chairwoman, said Reddam House Constantia had also complained about the site and she had met with the school’s college head, Alex Gitlin, in October, 2021 about the property. Mr Gitlin has recently been appointed as the school’s new executive head.
“Their sports field is just opposite the fence where we identified the space. So Reddam was complaining about the guys sitting on the fence, where they play sports, shouting at the children and taking pictures. At the moment, that is also sorted because we occupied that space. They are no longer dumping. Westlake has a huge problem with dumping.”
The non-profit organisation comprises 11 women. Together they run the Mountain View Educare, an after-school programme, a women’s support group and a feeding scheme.
The feeding scheme, has been running for more than seven years. It used to run out of Ms Thebus’s home, but it has now moved to a shipping container on Eagle Close. It serves a hot meal to more than 120 needy residents and 40 to 50 pupils from Westlake Primary School from Monday to Friday.
The scheme has seven volunteers from neighbouring areas, including Constantia and Tokai, who help to peel vegetables every week. It also receives unsold food from a Constantia supermarket and 100 loaves of bread each week from a bakery in Grassy Park, but Ms Thebus said that sometimes there was still not enough food to go around.
The organisation hopes the food garden will be able to change that.
The food garden started to take shape after one of the organisation’s members managed to get soil from a nearby development deposited on the site. The women used spades to prepare the site for gardening, and they also sourced poles and mesh wire to put up a fence. A gate was donated, and nearby residents gave rakes and spades.
Currently, mint, celery, parsley and sage, all donated by neighbours, are growing in the garden.
“They are putting in so much, investing their time, money and everything to make the lives of the community better,” said Jane Roberts, of Tokai, who has been a volunteer with the feeding scheme for more than four years and has also helped to raise funds and source equipment for it.
Mr Gitlin said the property had been a “cause for concern” in the past, but the efforts by the Women of Westlake had greatly improved things. “We are grateful for their hard work and dedication to enhancing our shared environment,” he said.
To learn more about Women of Westlake, call Alicia van Schalkwyk at 071 874 2702.
