I was born in Disaneng, a settlement outside Mahikeng. All the boys at my school did agriculture. Our teacher was Mr Sejake. He was strict but fair. He wanted things done nicely and he wouldn’t settle for less. He would help you to get it right, but if it wasn’t right he would make you do it again and again until it was right. I liked his style. I liked agriculture. I liked that it gave us things to eat, but I also liked how it made me feel. There is a nice calm that comes over a person when they are working the soil. It is a peaceful place to be.

I wasn’t with Mr Sejake very long, because I left school in Standard Two. I went to herd cows. It was in the fields with those cows that I learnt about all the edible wild plants and animals that there are in South Africa. We herd boys would catch small birds with catapults. We set traps for bigger, ground dwelling birds such as impangele (guinea fowl). The little birds we would roast over a fire. Guinea fowl were so nice slowly cooked in a pot.

I came to Gauteng in 2000. I got work as a security guard and I still work in that industry. From the beginning I had a food garden, and I worked at it when I was not on shift. In the old days it was just for me and my family to eat, but now that I have surplus, it has become a business. SocioTech training made a big difference to me. They taught me about trenches, mulching, manure and seasonality.  I was very enthusiastic right from the start. I met Charles on the Monday. On Tuesday I went to a training class. I was working Wednesday and Thursday, but on the Friday I was digging my trenches. I did it all by myself. I didn’t have any help. On that Saturday I finished digging at 3pm and I went straight out to collect tins and bones for my trenches.

I could see that this new SocioTech system was working well almost immediately. From the moment that I saw the onion seedlings growing big and strong I knew the method was good. Now I have spinach, tomatoes, onions, chilies, lettuce, cucumber and strawberries. Very quickly, people who were walking past started to notice that the garden was lovely. Like I said, in the old days, my garden was just for my family.

I grew up in Tshixwadza in Venda. The soil and climate there are very good for farming. My parents weren’t working so we grew almost all our own food. If we didn’t grow, we didn’t eat. I did agriculture at school. My teacher’s name was Mr Tshituke and by the time I was a teenager, I was using what he had taught me to grow tomatoes, China, spinach, onions, peanuts, pumpkins, beans and a few chilies. Every day after school I would tend to my vegetables.

In Venda we grow many traditional African vegetables that you don’t see much in Gauteng – for instance the lerotse pumpkin and those old-time mielies that are speckled with different colours. They grow slowly, but they are very delicious. Lerotse seeds are rich in oil and protein. We roast them in a pan or on the lid of a three-legged pot. The leaves are also so good cooked with peanuts.

In Venda there is so much free food to be had if you know where to look. We collect so many different types of wild morogo leaves (thepe, blackjack, delele, ngu and so many others) and fruit. I love the sweet-sour taste of mabungo fruit. There are also edible insects such as mopane worms and thongalifha (edible stinkbugs) that we catch and consume.

I came to Johannesburg in 1995. I had passed matric and wanted to study further, so I looked for work so I could save up to study. For a while I worked in the security industry, but those jobs are very hard to find, and the pay is not good. My dreams of studying did not come to pass. I don’t sit around feeling sorry for myself. Even though there aren’t bosses looking for workers, it doesn’t mean that there is no work. If you are skilled and flexible and prepared to work hard, there are many ways to earn money. I do all sorts of jobs – farming, building, plastering, welding, shoe repair – I work for myself, and I earn a good living. If I see there is a need for a service, I work out how to do that job. If necessary, I ask someone who knows. It can be difficult to be your own boss, but there are advantages. I am free to manage my own time - today my little girl (she is two years and eight months old) came to the garden with me and I had the time to help her pick her own garden peas. If I had a boss, I wouldn’t be able to stop everything to help a toddler pick peas.

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I come from Giyani in Limpopo and my family were subsistence farmers - mostly pumpkins and maize. As a child, I observed their planting but I was born disabled and so I couldn’t help work the land very much. Occasionally bird scaring but that was it.

In 2003 I came to Gauteng to complete my matric, after which I started a business studies course at South West College in Krugersdorp. That is how I ended up in this part of the world. After two years, I had to drop out because of a lack of finances but I liked the place, so I stayed in the area. In 2007, I asked the councillor for a stand which is when this land that is now my home was allocated to me.

There are many good things about this place. My children were born here. I have good friends here. On weekends we go to Kaizer Chiefs games together. My friend Justice spent his holidays helping me to dig my trenches – he had his own work to do but he took time out to help me.

I am not saying that things are perfect. One of the big challenges is the lack of tarred roads. When there are water leakages or heavy rains the roads get muddy. This wheelchair that I am using is not battery operated so I have to use my hands to push the wheels. Sometimes I don’t know what is in the mud and that is very unpleasant on my hands. I did have a battery powered wheelchair, but the batteries have been recharged so many times that they are now beyond recharging. I took it to the repair shop, but they say it can’t be done. I was quoted R4000 for new batteries so I am stuck using my hands until I can save that money.

I know that there are challenges in my life, but I can’t let them stop me from making progress. I am a husband and a father. I have responsibilities. My children need me to earn a living. I saw my friend farming and I asked him about it. He told me about SocioTech, so I went to the training. So far, I have done MyFood, MyFuture and MyBusiness. I took the training seriously and I have learnt many things. I loved all the new information.

In terms of the MyFood I was very interested in the health information. As a father, I want to ensure that my kids eat right. I keep and sell chickens – people buy these traditional chickens that I have for their ceremonies - but I never sell the eggs, because my little boys love eggs.