Izwelethu Food Garden, Soweto
Soweto, South Africa · Operator: Izwelethu (community youth project, Orlando West)
Overview
A food garden started around 2021 by youth in Orlando West, Soweto. They transformed a dumping site into a plot growing cabbage and spinach to support the area's elderly residents.
Citizen participation
Young people in Orlando West, Soweto cleared an illegal residential dumping site of about 40 m2 and turned it into a food garden. The resident-led project distributes the vegetables it grows to local pensioners and needy households.
Operating model
A non-profit community-welfare effort by youth volunteers. Rather than a commercial venture, it donates its harvest free of charge to local elderly and needy households.
Impact
Reclaimed an illegal dump as productive green space and helps make up the food shortfall of the area's pensioners, part of a wave of similar youth-led gardens across Soweto.
Land tenure
Residents cleared and informally/interim use a vacant former dumping site; formal land title is unclear.
Crops
- cabbage
- spinach
- tomatoes
- beetroot
Scale
40 m² — About 40 m2 plot on a former residential dumping site in Orlando West, Soweto
In the media（2）
Web articles and features that cover this case.
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