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- Twenty-eight gender-based violence survivors are learning to farm in the North West.
- They're learning to use permaculture methods to plant organic food, including spinach, pumpkin, cabbage, beetroot, lettuce and herbs.
- This kind of programme assists women in going from victims to thriving survivors.
South Africa's agricultural sector is one of the world's most diverse, consisting of corporate and private intensive and extensive crop farming systems, including vegetables, fruits, nuts, and grain production, according to research.
The well-developed commercial farming sector in South Africa is the backbone of the country's agricultural economy, but not many ordinary people are able to access this lifeline that can help them in their daily lives by providing food and an income.
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In the country, there are 32 000 commercial farmers and many of them started by learning basic skills. Hence the journey of twenty-eight gender-based violence (GBV) survivors who are learning a range of sustainable farming (permaculture) skills in the North West Province is an inspiration.
The initiative is being run by People Opposing Women Abuse (POWA) and funded by the French Embassy's Civil Society Development Fund (CSDF). Beneficiaries of the programme are from the village of Ga-Kekana and its surrounding communities in Winterveld, not far from Pretoria.
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According to research published by BMC Women's Health, in all countries, most gender-based violence is carried out against women by their – predominantly male – intimate partners in a domestic setting. "Almost a third of women worldwide report that they have experienced a form of physical and/or sexual violence by their partner, and approximately 38% of murders of women globally are committed by their male partner," research shows.
However, despite the hardships of abuse, women can survive and thrive under the correct conditions. According to BMC, the process of 'thrivership', which means moving from surviving to thriving after domestic violence, is a fluid, non-linear journey of self-discovery featuring three stages: victim, survivor and thriver.
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Jeanette Sera, POWA's Acting Executive Director, says the project is providing women with vegetables to share with their families, improving their food security and nutrition. "It is also growing their confidence, self-esteem and sense of self-sufficiency," she adds.
"POWA's work with GBV survivors in Winterveld essentially centres on the issue of agency to break the cycle of violence – through economic empowerment, but also restoring the survivors' self-confidence," says Noëlle Garcin, the Attaché for Development Cooperation & Gender Equality Officer for the French Embassy in South Africa, Lesotho and Malawi.
"The communal vegetable garden is a safe and therapeutic space for survivors to deal with their experience of abuse. Without even realising it, they are growing not only skills and livelihood opportunities but also inner strength, self-respect, and pride of what they are capable of achieving, individually and as a group. It is also providing an opportunity to learn and support each other."
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Beneficiaries of the programme are learning to grow these vegetables on a plot of land with water tanks at St John the Baptist Catholic Clinic and Old Age Home in Winterveld. The clinic's food gardening programme was closed for some time due to a lack of funding, and it's wonderful that gardening activities have now been revived.
Some of its nutritious and delicious produce is being given to the nearby orphanage and old age home. There are women who've harnessed the skills they've gained and are now cultivating food gardens at home.
In addition to the organic food gardening programme in Winterveld, the French Embassy has supported POWA with training in Monitoring and Evaluation, Project Management, Governance and Financial Planning, and Budget Capacity Building for POWA Managers in an effort to help strengthen the organisation.
If you're being abused and want to connect with a counsellor, you can contact the following organisations:
• Contact POWA at (011) 642 4345/6 or (011) 591 6800 (available from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm from Monday to Friday) or 076 694 5911. WhatsApp POWA on 060 400 0669 (available from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm from Monday to Sunday). You can also email counselling@powa.co.za
• Contact ADAPT at 011 885 3332 / 011 786 6608 or email adapt@worldonline.co.za
• Contact TEARS foundation on *134*7355# (Free) or contact TEARS on 010 590 5920 (24/7)
• Contact the #GBV Command Centre on 0800 428 428 for counselling services 24/7.
