In June 2003 Milly Jarvis and a couple of Dutch ladies started making a vegetable garden at Riversands Primary School when they realised how the children, who mostly came from the Diepsloot and Zevenfontein settlements, were suffering due to lack of adequate nourishment.

Throughout the years this team with the generous help of school mothers and the extended community, has worked to extend the gardens at the school to ensure that every child receives the nourishment he or she requires to realize their full potential.

The good news today is that major companies like Grundfos and JoJo Tanks have now come on board to extend the efforts and to make a real difference. The 2009 Grundfos students adopted the Riversands Primary School as a project to install a hydroponic vegetable garden. Hydroponic gardening is the perfect approach for a project of this nature because the hydroponic method of gardening requires no soil. Food for the plants (which is called hydroponic nutrients, are dissolved in water and fed directly to the roots automatically using water tanks and an integrated pump system).

The Riversands Primary School was selected for this project because the school already has a dedicated and committed gardening team. The school was delighted when they were told about the project as this new gardening method allows them to harvest vegetables in a much shorter period of time. Hydroponic gardening is also suitable to a wide variety of crops making sure that the team can provide the children not only with nutritious fresh vegetables but also with a variety of vegetables ensuring that they receive all the vitamins and minerals they require.

When JoJo Tanks, South Africa’s leading polyethylene tank manufacturer for over 30 years furthermore announced that they would donate the three water tanks required for the hydroponic gardening system, there was absolute joy amongst everyone at Riversands Primary School.

In early 2009 Grundfos students, under the able leadership of Dudley Willer, put their shoulders to the wheel and installed seven growing beds in the first phase of this exciting project. Through the generous sponsorship of JoJo Tanks, Controlled Irrigation and Incledon they were also able to install a comprehensive tank, pump and piping system which would allow the project to expand to service 42 growing beds as funds become available.

JoJo Tanks Managing Director, Rod Cairns said, “We are honoured to be involved with a project where the community has shown unbelievable determination and dedication to improve the lives of their children. We sponsor the three tanks in the hope that this will be but the beginning of their success here. We also look forward to the extension of the school gardens – the mothers, the children and the community have already achieved so much on their own… imagine what they can achieve with the support of caring corporates such as ourselves, Grundfos and the other sponsors!”