Yozth Going Green, Park Building in Soweto, Johannesburg
Carlien Wolmarens and Cobus Rider participants of the Antarctica Training Camp in Switzerland and Antarctica Expedition have worked together with our Young Explorers Coordinator Caroline Rupert to build in partnership with Johannesburg City Parks a green space in Soweto.
Protea Glen Park as it is now known, was little more then a wasteland in the middle of one of Johannesburg’s largest underprivileged areas of the city. In an effort to make Soweto greener and to provide a recreational space for young people to play in, Carlien and Cobus mobilised hundreds of young volunteers to join in and ACT.
Through the building of the park Carlien and Cobus have carried an environmental message to a new audience and in the process built a green environmental area that the users of the park will cherish and protect.
DESCRIPTION
The project took the form of a 12-hour park building marathon, where 150 pupils from schools in the Gauteng region and roughly 50 students from Soweto had the opportunity to come together and take part in the physical aspects of building the park. This park, serves as a sports and recreation ground to 1500 pupils from two underprivileged schools and a place of sanctuary to a 'woman and child' abuse centre, COPES-SA ( Community based Prevention and Empowerment Strategies - SA ), both bordering the park.
COPES-SA protects children through an outreach of support, education and skills development (which means that individuals, organizations and communities develop their own capabilities to reach their goals together and improve their circumstances).
The park build involved:
- Tree Planting,
- Grass Planting,
- Pathway Building & Playground
- Water Fountain Building
- Football field
This was a sponsored non-profit initiative aimed solely at the improvement of the lives of both the Protea Glen community and the students taking part in the initiative. This project also served as a promotional movement to conservation and environmental awareness in the community. At the same time the project offered school children the opportunity to reach out to and improve the lives of the residents of the community.
Soweto is an area of urban desertification, thus City Parks plans to plant 200 000 trees in Soweto before 2010 in a bid to 'green' the area. This project will contribute to this initiative.
Protea Glen Park SA
