The Peace Garden at Diepsloot Combined School will benefit approximately 1600 students and will supply fresh fruits and vegetables for the school’s feeding programme which feeds children two meals a day.
The Muhammad Ali Center Peace Garden initiative aims to teach underprivileged children multicultural respect, nutrition and hunger relief by growing plants from various countries. The initiative was launched last year in Louisville, Ky. by the Muhammad Ali Center with a commitment by Yum! Brands Foundation to provide $100 000 in grants to build multicultural gardens in underprivileged schools around the world over four years. In its inaugural year, the programme has built approximately sixty gardens for schools and community organisations. Yum! Brands Foundation is underwriting the initiative as part of its World Hunger Relief effort, the world’s largest private sector hunger relief effort spanning approximately 38,000 restaurants in more than 110 countries.
Presiding over the groundbreaking ceremony at Diepsloot Combined School was Yum! restaurants International CMO, David Timm, who was joined by Diepsloot Combined School Grade 6 pupils and headmistress, Veronica Kgabo. Yum! Human resources (HR) group spearheaded the South Africa garden launch as part of a global effort by Yum! Brands to establish Peace Gardens around the world. Anne Byerlein, chief people officer, Yum! Brands Foundation, flew out last week to visit the school, but due to inclement weather, the media launch was postponed and did not coincide with her formal visit to South Africa. However, while visiting the country and school, Byerlein commented: “We are proud to build South Africa’s first Muhammad Ali Center Peace Garden at the Diepsloot Combined School. Our passion is to be a company with a huge heart and the garden reflects our global commitment to World Hunger Relief. The garden will make a positive difference in the lives of 1 600 local children.”
Diepsloot Combined School has received funding and tools to establish raised garden beds and plant vegetable seeds consisting of spinach, cabbages, chinese cabbages, onions, beans and peas and fruit trees including pomegranate, granadilla and lemon. Through the Muhammad Ali Center Peace Garden, students at Diepsloot Combined School will participate in all aspects of the garden including planting, nurturing, harvesting, cooking and donating food to the hungry. The local community will also benefit from additional crops produced.
“Muhammad and I are pleased that the Muhammad Ali Center Peace Gardens are expanding to new continents and are reaching youth who have suffered an immense loss from the 2010 to 2011 floods that ravaged many areas of Johannesburg, leaving many South African children vulnerable to the devastation of malnutrition,” said Lonnie Ali, co-founder of the Muhammad Ali Center. “Having children learn about healthy foods, an appreciation for nature, and respect for one another, are all goals of the Peace Gardens initiative. We are grateful to our partner Yum! Brands, who is making this all possible.”
"We are thrilled that Yum! Brands selected our school to teach students how to use a garden to learn multicultural respect and hunger relief and we hope that we will be an example for other schools in our country," said Veronica Kgabo, headmistress of Diepsloot Combined School.
Educators around the world are able to access the Muhammad Ali Center Peace Gardens model programme, including a free downloadable teacher curriculum guide by visiting:
www.mypeacegarden.com;
www.alicenter.org;
www.yum.com and
www.garden.org. 200 worldwide grants will be awarded over a four-year period. The National Gardening Association, a recognised leader in the field and a key partner in the Muhammad Ali Center Peace Garden initiative, provides assistance with curriculum development and the grant process.