I met Sizwe from SocioTech when I was working at the Community Works Programme (CWP). I already had a food garden, but it was just for my family. I didn’t sell and I had never thought of it as a way of making money. We talked about the potential that could come from the soil and I began to see that I could make a lot more money growing vegetables than at the CWP. When I changed my mindset, my life changed. 

It wasn’t easy at first– digging those trenches and collecting all the cans and bones to correct the soil is a lot of work, but Sizwe motivated me to keep going. I like that he didn’t just give a lesson and disappear, he taught and then he kept checking up on me. He was always there to support and advise. He called me over and over making sure that I was following the plan. That was really important, because at first, I didn’t love gardening. I have learnt to love it through Sizwe. He is unusual – usually young boys like him are not garden people, but you can see that it is everything to him. He always makes time to help those who want to learn. When he saw that I had worked hard he came and put up a vegetable tunnel, which was wonderful, because before that my neighbours’ chickens kept pecking at the crops.

It wasn’t just farming techniques that I learnt from SocioTech training. I also learnt about selling. Growing vegetables and selling them are two different skills. The key to selling is to make yourself and your product known. I post pictures of my crops on Facebook and my WhatsApp status and customers order through those channels. When I get the order, I walk to deliver the goods, because I don’t have transport, but that is a good thing because I show the beautiful vegetables to everyone I see along the way. I tell them all about the products I have – those journeys are often very productive sales missions. Many new sales come along the way.

It is important to know who your customers are and what they need. I make combo packs – for instance packs with onion, tomato, spinach and green pepper. I make processed packs where I wash and cut up all the vegetables. Those sell well to ladies who are at work all day. I say to them, ‘don’t stress yourself. Let me do the chopping so when you get home from work you can rest.’ For someone like a teacher who gets home at the end of a long day, having the vegetables ready to put in the pot helps them a lot. They are prepared to pay extra for that service.