Samuel Johnson Permaculture Project in South Africa

The Shaster Foundation’s primary initiative is the Samuel Johnson School’s Permaculture Education Project. When we started working with the school in 2010, this rural school located in the Free State province was struggling: their school facilities were struggling under the heavy pupil numbers which had risen dramatically from 150 in 2008 to over 1,000 in 2010. We continue building on the first steps we took to build a sustainable future for this school: installing dry composting toilets, an irrigation system and vegetable beds, providing employment, obtaining funding for new buildings, transport and other essential needs the school has.

Project Achievements

Why we were needed here

Actions we took

Samuel Johnson needs your help

Project Achievements

This project has been a resounding success: in less than 2 years the school has been turned into a model for sustainability in the Free State and has captured the attention of the provincial department. The students are actively engaged in the gardens and the staff’s positive motivation has been renewed.

Samuel Johnson school is one of only 3 schools that have won a departmental award for innovative school nutrition (because of the permaculture gardens).

The school won a bronze medal in an International Ecoschool competition for the gardens and have entered the sandbag & ecobeam buildings in another competition in the hope of winning a solar powered photocopier.

SEED

The outside classroom being built by SEED will be complete in time for the new term and will be used solely for environmental education.

The Zastron municipality sent 6 workers for permaculture training at the school and will keep 6 volunteers there on a permanent basis.

The provincial education department is closely following the progress of the sandbag building with a view to using it in other rural areas.

The department has built a new toilet block for the school as well as 4 permanent classrooms and 6 temporary classrooms.

The bus has been very useful both for transporting students to and from school and for taking students around to various sporting and cultural activities that they couldn’t participate in before.

The principal believes it is only because of the involvement of Shaster Foundation (with the generous support of their financial donors from England, Norway and South Africa) that all this has happened.

The school has been given 2 large water tanks for the gardens, which will collect water from the roof of the classroom building.

More photos of the permaculture project

Why we were needed here

The learners and teachers at Samuel Johnson were struggling under the weight of overcrowding, lack of funding, a shortage of classrooms and a lack of sufficient sanitation and adequate facilities to keep the learners safe, warm, and fed.

Actions we took

Since the Shaster Foundation has been involved with this rural school the lives of the students have improved considerably. Our aim was to provide the school with sustainability. In 2010 the project started with generous donations from UK, Norway and South African business people whose vision is in line with our own – that of creating a sustainable environment for the young people of this country.

We have employed 2 trained permaculturists who have shared their knowledge with both staff and students and created a garden of great beauty as well as abundant food. In an area where fresh fruit is in short supply for township families, educating learners on how to grow their own food gives them a potentially life-saving skill.

The school bus was a major benefit as it means that students who live far away can get to school easily, so attendance has improved and the produce grown in the vegetable gardens means that the students nutrition has also improved.

Next to be tackled was the shortage of classrooms, so the funding was used to build classrooms made from sandbags that could be built with local labour. The sandbag classrooms are almost complete in spite of being badly let down by a supplier. Sadly it means that no desks will be available for the students, and the building has been protracted way beyond the anticipated completion date.

Toilet facilities were a major problem at the school, so the Shaster Foundation installed four dry composting toilets to relieve the pressure on the regular toilet block which housed only 2 toilets for 500 students.

In 2011 we engaged with an environmental NGO – SEED which is now partnering us in the education aspect of the project. An outdoor classroom is planned where teachers and students will get intensive permaculture education, along with members of the greater Zastron community.

Samuel Johnson needs your help

Due the work being done at Samuel Johnson school we have been approached by the principal of Zama primary school (a feeder school to SamJohn) to start a food garden there. So together with 3 parents who are volunteering, a new garden has started in the primary school. Unfortunately without a vehicle it is difficult for the Shaster workers to work as efficiently as they might due to long travelling distance. Manure has to be wheelbarrowed by hand to the site! We are hopeful that a promise of a second hand utility vehicle will come to fruition in time for the winter planting!

As mentioned above, the classrooms require desks and further funding to complete the building project.