“How does your garden grow?” Mary is asked in the nursery rhyme. If she happened to live in suburban Durban, she might reply: “With regular breaks and spiralling rates, it’s all quite a challenge, you know.”
For The Domino Foundation’s Red Light programme’s safe house, Othandweni, a reliable water source for its 8 regular residents of beneficiaries and staff has been an ongoing challenge. The small community of survivors of gender-based violence are all participants in Red Light’s Restore and Release programmes. The demands made on the municipal water supply have made augmenting it a priority for the programme.
“We have marvelled at the amazing help which has come from several quarters as an answer to our water challenge,” commented Gill Hammond, house manager. “Our first benefactors were aQuellé who, through Estelle Willemse, stepped forward with the gift of a 5000-litre Jojo tank. (who should we mention here??) We realised there were some logistical challenges in finding a suitable location to install such a large item.” To the rescue came JTI (Japan Tobacco International) who were keen to mark Mandela Day by identifying an area to positively impact female empowerment in Durban. Niro Naicker, who is at the company’s Westville offices with responsibility for JTI’s Corporate Social Investment spend in KZN, saw this as an excellent opportunity. She noted: “We initially had other proposals, but our discussions with Gill and her team pointed to the installation of the Jojo being a critical infrastructural need.” Though JTI’s network, a local contractor, Kelnick Plumbers and Civil Contractors, under the supervision of Kelvin…???, was engaged and made its contribution by giving its services at a significantly reduced rate.
“Now we can depend on turning on the tap knowing that the water will flow,” added Gill. “Most of Othandweni’s residents come from backgrounds of extreme uncertainty and instability and so something as fundamental as having a reliable source of clean water plays a part in restoring their sense of dignity.”
One of the visons in which the Jojo will play a significant role is the proposed vegetable tunnel at Othandweni described by Gill: ”Most of the beneficiaries have never known any other form of earning except plying their trade on the streets. We prepare them to move into productive secure futures through career guidance and skills training. Part of this process includes providing for their present needs and, with water and a veggie tunnel, we can meet those and give a hands-on opportunity to learn the elements of horticulture, which might well become a way for some of the ladies to earn a living when they leave us.”.
Gill can be contacted either at restore @ domino.org.za for more information on how the community can partner with Red Light in bringing hope and dignity to survivors of gender-based violence.
