These 10 ouens have transformed a vuil dumping site and skollie turf into a neat vegetable garden for Salberau community in Elsies River.
The garden – where onions, spinach, cauliflower, lettuce, tomatoes and peppers have been planted – was borne out of the community’s needs, says Kyle le Roux, 26.
Kyle, who has been self-employed for the past few years, says: “Most of the guys are either self-employed or unemployed or on short.
“We started cleaning the site around 26 April and worked for the past three weeks and that got us to where we are.
“The site has been a dumping site for years and criminal activities occurred there.”
The garden is situated at 27 Grand Vue Avenue and is ready for the winter rain, says Sufiyaan du Toit, 31.
“I live here next to the site. People have been complaining about the druggies that used this as their smoking zone.
“The clean gardening beds you see now is a result of team effort and weeks of removing rubbish.
“We are doing this for the benefit of the community.
Kyle adds: “The community has shown their appreciation. People will come here and bring us drinks or give us money to feed us.
“A worker at a Schaapkraal farm sponsored us with vegetable seeds, compost and plantlings to make this all possible.”
The 10 guys, known as the Plaaskinders, also include Terence Grever, Marvin Elly, Quinton Prince, Waheed Du Tuit, Jayden Graeme, Orland Collison, Cheslin Plaatjies and Joshua Windvogel.
Kyle says they still need to remove a heap of rubbish and plan to build a fence around the garden to keep vandals out.