Hlumelelisa Partners with Thusong Youth Centre

Hlumelelisa has joined forces with the team at Thusong Youth Centre in Alexandra to launch a new community horticulture training programme! We are excited to be working in a community with so much history and cultural vibrancy. This new project that started in November was made possible by the support the of the AgriSETA and Mama Beauty and her team at Thusong. Hlumelelisa's goal is to build a centre of excellence to reach more and more unemployed persons in this community.

Our learners will be trained in ornamental horticulture, food gardening, entrepreneurship and life skills. Below is a photo of our training team at Thusong - Kagiso Monegi will serve as the lead facilitator, Happy Baloyi is also a facilitator, Reginald Mokwena will head up Hlumelisa's practical training and Lynton Johnson will serve as the team's training specialist. Lynton has 40 years of experience in the horticulture industry, has lectured throughout the world and published numerous books. Both Happy and Reginald our graduates of Hlumelelisa's training programme and residents of Alexandra. Stay tuned for more photos from our training here.

From left: Reggie, Kagiso, Happy and Lynton at Thusong Youth Centre.

A Team Farewell

Friday, 19 November was the last day for Hlumelelisa's Office Manager, Stacey Clark. Stacey returned to New York to continue to pursue work in development and poverty alleviation. Though she will still be involved with Hlumelelisa's work on a project basis from the States, her presence on the ground in South Africa will be sorely missed. A few photos from her farewell send-off at Hlumelelisa's training centre at Leeuwkop Correctional Facility. 

Hlumelelisa in the Times Live!

Thank you to Vishanthi Arumugam for visiting our Leeuwkop facility and spending time with Hlumelelisa's team of learners and staff. Read her article here: Hlumelelisa in the Times Live. 

What We Do

Thank you to Wes, Mia and Inside the Big Picture for helping Hlumelelisa share our story and those of our learners! Check out our new video short on YouTube! Hlumelelisa Video Update

A shot from filming day at Leeuwkop.

Summer Starts at Leeuwkop

Just a few photos to start off the season.

Q3 Newsletter

Hlumelelisa's Q3 newsletter is here! Please click on this link to read in pdf. Thank you to our team, learners and network of friends and colleagues for your continued support!

Celebrate Arbor Week!

South Africa's Arbor Week 2011 comes to an end today - celebrate the day by planting a tree! We recently asked our learners in our horticulture training courses at both the Leeuwkop and Johannesburg Central Correctional Facilities about their favourite lesson so far and many responded that it was learning about trees, their names and their purpose.

The official trees for 2011 are the Jacket-plum (common) and Bride's Bushes and the Common Wild Elder (rare) - find these and other trees at two of Hlumelelisa's partners Food and Trees for Africa and the Tiqwa School nursery.

Hlumelelisa learners at the Leeuwkop Correctional Facility shade house facility which is home to many of the trees grown by our students.

And Growing!

Hlumelelisa welcomes Mafika Vilakasi to our training team at Johannesburg Central Correctional Facility - Mafika will be working closely with training facilitator William Moropana as a trainer in training.

Our Team is Growing!

Happy Baloyi, one of Hlumelelisa's graduates from our Leeuwkop class of 2009, has just started at Leeuwkop as a training intern - a "train the trainer"participant. We're excited to have him on the team - he is pictured here with our training facilitator, Kagiso Monegi.

Q2 Newsletter

Our Q2 newsletter is here! This features a "Spotlight on" a member of our training facilitation staff, Kagiso Monegi - click here to also see a short video with Kagiso telling her story in her own words.

Hlumelelisa Continues to Grow

Less than two weeks ago on 13 June we started a new training programme at the Medium B male section at Johannesburg Central Correctional Facility. Training is being headed up by one of Hlumelelisa's homegrown facilitators, William Moropana. After spending only a short time with our 14 new trainees, William reckons they're a super sharp group - we're looking forward to watching them grow over the course of the nine-month programme.

We're excited to have started training but there is a lot of work to undertake at our new location - our facility so far is made up of one classroom. Plans are in the works for planting outdoor gardens fas well as for construction of a shadehouse. Stay tuned for photos of our progress!

Q1 NewsLetter 2011

See what Hlumelelisa has been up to in the first three months of 2011 and spread the word!

Link to PDF version: Hlumelelisa Q1 2011 Newsletter

Success!

Some time has passed since Hlumelelisa held our graduation for the Leeuwkop Class of 2010 in March but we still wanted to take the time to share some photographs and moments from this proud event as well as to thank those who came out to support our graduates.

On 15 March, 11 individuals the from the Leeuwkop Correctional facility graduated from Hlumelelisa's Ornamental Horticulture and Landscaping short skills training course that was held over the course of nine months in 2010. Two graduates from our Class of 2009 also completed our very first "train the trainer" programme that equipped them to become future training facilitators. We are proud of all of our graduates and this huge accomplishment that they have achieved.

We would like to take a moment to extend our sincere gratitude for those who came out to celebrate this occasion with our graduates - representatives were present from the Thabiso Skills Institute as well as The Healing Centre and the Department of Correctional Services. Mama Beauty of the Thusong Youth Centre opened the ceremonies with a very personal message of encouragement directed toward Hlumelelisa's graduates. Mark Lewis, who works to study sustainable agriculture and farming, delivered an inspiring keynote address that insisted that our learners take the skills and knowledge they have learned to build their futures and to work hard to contribute to a greener, more sustainable environment in South Africa. Johan Engelbrecht of the AgriSETA assisted Hlumelelisa's training facilitators, Kagiso Monegi and William Moropana, in handing out certificates to the graduates and offered them words of encouragement. We would also like to thank Flash from Alex FM and Lucky Morake for serving as our masters of ceremonies for this event - their energy was infectious.

We are proud of our learners and this milestone of learning and rehabilitation that they have passed in their lives. The most memorable moment of this celebration was to share with them as they related to the audience the changes that have occurred in their lives and the hope that they have for the future as a result of participating in Hlumelelisa's training programme. We look forward to reporting back on their future successes very soon!

Photos by David Dini

Graduation Day

Tomorrow, 15 March 2011, we will honour our graduates from the class of 2010 at the Leeuwkop Correctional Facility. We are excited to celebrate this momentous occasion together!

Rehabilitation is Rewarding

Last week we received a certificate of appreciation from the Bekezela Support Group at the Leeuwkop Correctional Facility's Medium A group. This is in recognition of the work we do toward rehabilitation of our learners through our horticulture training programme - this is a wonderful honour and we are humbled to be a recipient.

Home Improvements

In anticipation of the beginning of our upcoming training session, we've been hard at work at our training centre at the Leeuwkop Correctional Facility. Some of our most dedicated graduates from the class of 2010 have been working tirelessly and have produced fantastic results - see for yourself!

Mike Griffiths - Forever in our Hearts and Minds

Today we mourn the loss of a dear friend and colleague - Mike Griffiths passed away last week after a short illness. He will be missed by all those whose lives he touched. Mike was generous with his time, knowledge and love of the land. Our hearts are deeply saddened by his passing yet full of the happy memories he left with us. Mike's funeral will be held at the Bryanston Methodist Church on Tuesday 15 February at 10 am.

Starting the Year Off Right

It's 2011 but here is a message from last year that we didn't want to forget! Stay tuned for new updates - we're starting a new round of classes in a few short weeks. Our Leeuwkop nursery is ready for us, as you can see.