Regenerative Agriculture, Generative Community

By Amelia (Nursing, ’28) and Lydia (Nursing, ’26)

Today we started off the day with a delicious breakfast. Then our first session was learning about Care for the Planet Program and Recycling. Goedgedacht uses many resources such as Coopers Muti, which is their toilet system, Fork Harvester, which is a net that that catches the water, flow foam to try to rehabilitate soil, and using 7 different recycling bins. Throughout this process they use mountain water, working hand in hand, and using vibrant bins to attract children to promote recycling.

Our second session was with a community social worker who shared about Goedgedacht’s Healthy Families and their 1st 1000 Days Program. Goedgedacht’s social worker has worked more than 20 years in this field and also helped create the 1st 1000 Days Program. They work with people of all ages and strive to educate people about resources and services. She stressed about how social work is a process and how you must be patient for things to work out. There is a positive parent program, fatherhood program, and elderly support. These programs stress doing things that are needed at the moment. I personally loved how she said “you are allowed to look after yourselves” because sometimes parents find themselves putting so much time and energy into their children that they forget to take care of themselves.

Our third session of the day was learning about Goedegacht Farm. We talked with the farm manager, and he mentioned how the farm was originally established for rest and recuperation for those needing a break from their lives. At the farm they use no chemicals and pesticides. Their soil is heavy clay soil, and they see nature as forgiving, so if you make a mistake, things will always turn out in the end. They have 20 hen chickens, 5 horses, and 5 Dexter cows. Dexter cows are from Ireland, and they have a strong gene from their milk that makes it kind of like goat milk so those who are lactose intolerant are still able to drink it. The Dexter cows are quite small, which allows them to roam freely through the olive tree grove without breaking off brances.

The farm manager gave us a tour of the farm and he called it his “playground” because he enjoys working at the farm so much. They grow their own food here, so it is nice to see how well they treat their land. It was very interesting to see that they have worm towers for vermiculture. There are about 7,000-8,000 worms per tower, and they put these towers underneath trees that are not indigenous to South Africa, so that the “worm tea” seeps into soil and keeps the trees healthy. The worm tea is also used in the irrigation system to fortify the water and enrich the soil. We finished the tour of the farm off by petting 2 of the 5 horses they have on the farm. The tour felt as if we were back home, and it made us all feel very welcome. We then had lunch and afterwards a little downtime before starting our next session.

During the Farm tour two of the students took the opportunity to go out into the community and sit in on a Be Brave support group at a POP (Path out of Poverty) Center. The support group is for young adults ranging from 18-25 years of age. With the help of the 3 facilitators the group, and leaders, work through how to process stress and trauma. On the drive over to the town of Kasteel, one of the students talked to Deon, our host, in the front about the local area while I talked with Heinelize in the back, a worker with the POP centers. She talked of a game they played at the centers that translated to hand tennis. It sounded very much like a school yard game we play called four square. After our conversation, we were asked to teach a group of kids this game at the Center. Once arriving to the Center and after the instructions were told, we were privileged to be able to play with some of the Center’s leaders.  It brought both of us great joy seeing the group play and explaining to each other the rules in Afrikaans while playing.

After a short while it was time for the Be Brave group to meet. Most of the session was discussed in Afrikaans, which made it much more interesting. We found that even though we did not understand what was being said through body language and expressions, we could convey the meaning of the exchanges. The leaders often explained what was being discussed to us after participants had shared. The topic for this meeting was apology and forgiveness.

After a quick social time with the group, we then headed back to Goedgedacht for lunch and a a bit of rest. The group met with Deon for another session in which he shared about the history of Goedgedacht’s approach to serving the community. He described how the previous program provided families with everything they needed, framing their work primarily as charity. Their new programs, still in use today, follows the lines of the asset-based community development (ABCD) approach. (Because of our American ears, many of the students listening heard: “acid base community development.) The ABCD approach helps strengthen the community, giving them control of their own aspirations, and empowering them to achieve their own needs and dreams.

After a short break, the group got back together to go into the community to two different POP centers in two different communities. At the first one, we were able to meet with the coordinator, Jonwal. He is an example of growing up within the POP centers and benefiting from its programs and structure. Jonwal talked of the support that was given throughout his schooling and how, now as a staff member, he is able to give back through the programs supporting the next generation of students.

After our visits to the POP centers, we went to the house of Andre Bartlett, a retired theology professor and pastor who worked for changed within the Dutch Reformed Church. Andre led us in a mindfulness session that he leads once a week, usually at Goedgedacht, but tonight in his home. During the session we were guided through a meditation focusing on the five senses.

Through this field trip into the nearby communities, we were able to see the continuous effects of apartheid and the inequality still challenging South Africa. The distinct change between driving through shantytowns inhabited by black Africans, where people had built fires outside of their erected houses, hoping to gain warmth through their cold season, and the house of a white Afrikaner whose fireplace provided warmth throughout the very spacious living room provided a new insight to the ongoing forms of injustice of South Africa.