January 22, 2012 journal, solving the food crisis in South Africa by community gardens. "Around 1 million people in South Africa-the majority of whom are recent arrivals from the former apartheid homelands, Transkei and Ciskei-live in the shacks that make up Khayelitsha, Nyanga and the area surrounding the Cape Flats outside Cape Town. Just under half, or 40 percent, of the population is unemployed, while the rest barely earn enough income to feed their families. In Xhosa, the most common language found in the area, the word abalimi means "the planters". Through partnerships with local grassroots organizations, the aptly named, Abalimi Bezekhaya, a non-profit organization working with the people living in these informal settlements, is helping to create a community of planters who can feed the township. Abalimi Bezekhaya is helping to transform townships into food-and income-generating green spaces in order to alleviate poverty and to protect the fragile surrounding ecosystem. Providing training and materials, Abalimi Bezekhaya helps people to turn school yards and empty plots of land into gardens. Each gardens is run by 6 to 8 farmers who, with support and time, are soon able to produce enough food to feed their families. Abalimi Bezekhaya encourages community members to plant indigenous trees and other flora in the township streets to create shade and increase awareness of the local plant life, much of which is endangered due to urban sprawl. But while Abalimi Bezekhaya is bringing food and wild flora into the townships, it is also helping the townships to bring fresh produce into the city. With support from the Ackerman Pick n'Pay Foundation, and in partnership with the South African Institute of Entrepreneurship (SAIE) and the Business Place Philippi, Abalimi Bezekhaya founded Harvest of Hope (HoH) in 2008. HoH purchases the surplus crops from 14 groups of farmers working in Abalimi Bezekhaya's community plots, packages them in boxes and delivers them to selected schools where parents can purchase them to take home. For families in Cape Town, HoH means fresh vegetables instead of the older, and often imported, produce at the grocery store. But for families of the farmers working with Hope of Harvest, it means much more. "To grow these vegetables here for me, first, is a life," said Christina Kaba, a farmer working with HoH in a video about the project. "Second, is how you can give to your family without asking anyone for a donation for money or food. Here you are making money, you are making food." To read more about innovations that bring produce to cities, see: Vertical Farms: Finding Ways to Grow Food in Kibera, Growing Food in Urban "Trash," Creating a Market for the Taste of Home, Looking for an Answer in the Private Sector, and Reducing Wastewater Starts with a Conversation." Similar posts: Innovation of the Week: Reducing Wastewater Contamination Starts with a Conversation Innovation of the Week: Turning the School Yard into a Classroom Innovation of the Week: Reducing the Things They Carry Innovation of the Week: Homegrown Solutions to Alleviating Hunger and Poverty Innovation of the Week: It's All About the Process Innovation of the Week: Feeding Communities by Focusing on Women Innovation of the Week: Access to Water Improves Quality of Life for Women&Children Innovation of the Week: School Feeding Programs Improve Livelihoods, Diets, and Local Economies Categories: Africa Agriculture Cooperatives Education Environment Farmers Farmers Groups Food Food Security Gardening Hunger Income Indigenous Innovation Innovation of the Week Innovations that Nourish the Planet organic Poverty School South Africa State of the World 2011 sub-Saharan Africa Sustainable Urban Farming Women Tags: Abalimi Bezekhaya Agriculture Cape Flats Cape Town Food Food Security Harvest of Hope Hunger Innovation of the Week Khayelitsha Nourishing the Planet Nyanga State of the World Urban Farming Worldwatch Posted on September 9, 2010 at 9:00 am. ‹ Part 33: Where Would You Like to See More Agricultural Funding Directed?The Future of Our Food System: Our Changing Climate and Food Availability › Danielle Nierenberg-NourishPlanet How Mobile Technology Is Helping Farmers Save Time, Water, and Electricity ow.ly/dIQEv 8 hours ago · reply · retweet · favorite NourishPlanet "If you are ever at a loss to support a flagging conversation, introduce the subject of eating."°Leigh Hunt, ow.ly/dgALi 8 hours ago · reply · retweet · favorite NourishPlanet "One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop and..devote our attention to eating."°Luciano Pavarotti... 9 hours ago · reply · retweet · favorite NourishPlanet Eating well gives a spectacular joy to life and contributes immensely to goodwill and happy companionship."°Elsa Schiaparelli... yesterday · reply · retweet · favorite DanCitizen Key article on how banking/finance systems need to improve to rebuild local #food system buff.ly/Q5xeag via @civileats @nourishplanet yesterday · reply · retweet · favorite Join the conversation http://blogs.worldwatch.org/nourishingtheplanet/innovation-of-the-week-from-the-township-garden-to-the-city-table/ Let everybody become homeless and trust God for a roof over their head, plant a garden. Why should one-third American people be homeless, how are they supposed to survive? These are the questions we should be asking the political Government and godless banks. Death is no escape for the troubles of life but just the beginning of hell for unrighteous.