SOCIOTECH BBL FACILITATOR: Jabu Hlongwane

If I can do it, anyone can. I started my career at SocioTech in 2018 as an infrastructure worker – cutting and packing nets. I would accompany facilitators to training sessions if there was construction to be done. Over time I began to help out at those sessions, but I come from Soshanguve, so I am basically a city guy. My one grandfather lived in rural Mpumalanga which gave me a bit of exposure to rural conditions, and my other grandmother had a township backyard vegetable garden, so I had done a bit of weeding and watering, but the SocioTech horticulture techniques (deep trenching, soil regeneration, drip irrigation, crop rotation, and seedling making) were things I learnt about at SocioTech.

Before I joined the SocioTech team, I didn’t know about nutrition. I just ate whatever I could afford, or what my friends were eating – often that didn’t include vegetables. These days I grow my own food using the same methods that we show the participants. When I eat, most times I follow the Food Robot. I no longer worry about the cost of buying vegetables, because I grow my own. Being able to grow and eat healthy food is my wish for all South Africans. It doesn’t seem like an impossible dream. We need to remember that every crop gives seeds, that God gave us land and water, and now it is our job to make use of those gifts.

When they asked me to join the SocioTech training team, I was very nervous, but that is a part of anything new. BBL is all about gaining confidence, acquiring skills, and implementing change. If I am going to ask others to believe in that process, I must be prepared to go there myself. I believe that everyone has a life purpose and that I have been blessed to find mine. I have found my calling.

When we arrive in a community, people often seem hopeless. At that first session, motivation can be low. One of our main tasks is to encourage people to set goals and imagine a different future. I find that principle very helpful in my own life too. Set a goal, think it through, know what must be done, and do it. Start small, but start. At SocioTech we have shown that one small spinach or tomato seedling can be the start of a lifelong journey into business. There are participants I know who used to go to bed hungry, worrying about what they would feed their children. They are no longer in that state of anxiety. They are planting. They have created surplus. They are now in business doing agro-processing, budgeting, and record-keeping. They are saving up and being able to pay for boreholes. Little by little their lives change through their own efforts.

People start in fear and doubt, but then they learn to trust you. As they get more confident, you start to see them open up to change. Being part of that journey is amazing. Planting food is a liberation. Freedom from hunger is the beginning of a new, better life.

You see that transformation coming to life through the Phinda-Phinda process. When I see those who have been trained starting to train other people, I know that they aren’t just waiting for me to come back and do that work for them. They are taking an active role in spreading the word. When someone has the energy and desire to help others, that means they are gaining confidence and seeing the bigger picture. We are all connected.

My wish would be for everyone in South Africa to have access to the BBL Programme. I sometimes wonder if we should have a TV, radio, or social media campaign to increase awareness and reach more people. I know that if SocioTech was better known and that there were more of us on the ground, we could save South Africa.