Hennops River Restoration from source - Kaalfontein clean-up.
”Today's event at Kaalfontein was a huge success and a very rewarding day,” reports Willem Snyman of FRESH.ngo.
“It started with a problem - a huge sewerage leak was running down the road and into the wetland right where we were working. Fortunately Joburg Water fixed it within a few hours.
”There were many 'stars' today who shone brightly and made this into such a great collaboration to transform this embattled place. Here are some of them:
The Miss Earth ladies mustered support from the community and like Pied Pipers led a long row of kids to help fill bags of rubbish. Eventually about a 100 bags were filled from just a small area.
Mia Marsay from Over the Garden wall again brought us 30 large trees which were planted all in the park, concentrating them at the bridge entrance.
Bianca Wannenburg and her Khuthaza team created an EcoBrick masterpiece from scratch - a round bench surrounded by newly-planted trees, for the local group starting a small restaurant here. Many hands were busy mixing cement, digging and planting - the results made the locals very happy and will transform their lives.
The tranquil space created here are the first steps towards establishing a small eco-market that we'd like to construct for this community. It will be a beautiful and functional entrance to the Wetland Park and walking trail.
Karla Jooste and the Lewende Woord team brought an amazing amount of food and soup for everyone and helped with education and cleaning up.
Living Water kept the thirsty workers hydrated and the guys helped a great deal with planting and building.
Many volunteers came to help and together with the community something special was created here. We formed a strong bond through creative labour, working together side by side.
”A special thanks to all who helped - it was heart-warming and gives us hope for our planet - shared energy and positive action!
”Tomorrow (Sunday 9 June) we will follow the water's course down stream. To start with we'll be doing an exploratory walk around the Kaalfontein wetland to establish a community walking trail around this large natural area - to define the green heart of Tembisa. We envisage a border path cut to define the urban edge and prevent the constant encroachment and filling up of the sides with illegal dumping.
“We'll meet at today's site, at 9am. After that we'll start the first leg of the Hennops River Source to Cradle Hike - down to the Red Barn. Those who want to participate can park down here and share a lift up at 8am or there will be a lift back to Kaalfontein. It should take around four hours.
”Please join us for this urban adventure and explore the headwaters of the Hennops, the longest and wildest Fountain-River of Gauteng.”