Act Three: Absorbing Information

In Act Three, we had several useful meetings including our talk with Jonno, our weekly sponsor meeting, and the Two Rivers Urban Park (TRUP) Committee meeting. Our meeting with Jonno and presentation at the TRUP Committee meeting helped us further develop our initial relationship with both Jonno and the TRUP Committee. This is important to our team since both will be integral in shaping our final proposal. Through these meetings we also gained a lot of valuable knowledge with the direction the project can take, as well as more useful contacts for people who can help us in looking at the pathway and community garden from multiple angles.

Scene One Summary

The pathway team met with Jonno in his Food Village Garden in Oude Molen Eco Village.   We asked him multiple questions about how his garden is run and how feasible a connection with MGV can be.  The main thing we learned is that his garden is a learning garden, funded by Food Basket for Africa which aims to educate youth, which for this garden are young people from MGV.   Jonno is very interested in forming a connection with MGV and helping us with a business plan based around this.

  • Learned that Food Garden Village is mainly a training garden, connecting with MGV children as part of the curriculum
  • Learned the way he gives back to the community through employment opportunities
  • Jonno is very excited to form a relationship with MGV and the Green Light Project
Read more of Scene One here.

Scene Two Summary

This scene is about our weekly meeting with our sponsors from the City of Cape Town, Maitland Garden Village representatives, Scott Jiusto and Bob Hersh.  In this meeting, we discussed the accomplishments for the past week, different problems with land ownership, the possible pedestrian bridge, and future plans.  After this meeting, we planned on visiting Crispin Barrett so he can show us a mapping function designed by the City of Cape Town as well as a resource library in their department.  We will also be planning for two presentations in the next couple of weeks.

  • Gained information on land ownership problems
  • Discussed the issues and possible outcomes for the pedestrian bridge
  • Made future plans to start mapping
Read more of Scene Two here.

Scene Three Summary

Our team presented at the Two Rivers Urban Park Committee meeting located at Valkenberg Hospital’s Environment Centre. We presented our project to the committee and received feedback on both our project and presentation to incorporate for the Steering Committee meeting in the following week. We gained useful information on agricultural and heritage, such as incorporating medicinal gardening, and on presentation assets, such as including mapping and giving a background to the project.

  • Presented at the TRUP Committee meeting
  • Learned possibilities for the pathway such as medicinal gardening
  • Heard additions to add to presentation to the Steering Committee
Read more of Scene Three here.

Reflection

Through our meetings this week, we learned many of the logistical challenges that we will face as we move forward with our planning. Jonno’s insight on what a successful community garden contains guided our learning for the garden section of our proposal and we understood how valuable experience is when looking for advice. Jonno’s Food Garden Village is a good example of what would be valuable to have in MGV, but we also are proceeding carefully to ensure that the community garden in MGV is tailored to the community’s wants and needs, rather than a direct copy of Food Garden Village.

In addition, attending the TRUP Committee meeting that we had previously heard so much about helped us understand how the organisation functions and how we can fit in. Since they will be an integral stakeholder throughout the pathway project while we are in Cape Town, their feedback on our presentation was appreciated and is helpful in the preparation for our bigger presentation at the TRUP Steering Committee meeting next week.