The dream born from the challenge

It has always been a dream at Timion to empower the families we visit with gardening skills by enabling them to grow their own vegetables in their yards. Food poverty and security is a problem for many households in South Africa, however, for those who have a small garden or yard area, there is the possibility of turning those spaces into a bountiful source of food supply to feed themselves and their families. 

Even prior to Covid-19, many families had the daily mission of providing enough food for their families to eat,  however, many more families find getting “their daily bread” increasingly challenging with the economic challenges of Covid-19. 

Covid-19 challenged us all in finding new ways to work; we saw this as a God-given opportunity to start our own vegetable garden on the new Timion Village site.

The Garden and our partnerships

Since August 2020, Timion has spearheaded turning the rugged and uncultivated piece of land on the Timion Village site into a beautiful garden.

Timion has collaborated with the Co-op Community Trust, whose mission is to support local non-profit organisations with finances to start their own gardens; and ‘Farming Gods Way’, an NPO providing training on how to start a garden. The organization "Farming God's Way" says the following: "Farming God's Way" is not just a technology, but a balanced approach to agricultural issues based on biblical, organisational and technical criteria. It should equip the poor with what God has given them and open up the fullness of the life promised by Jesus.

Our goal is to build a sustainable food-growing project that aims to improve food security for the communities in which we work and it is very exciting that we can use our own land in the Timion Village to do this.

Gardening is such an encouraging way to see biblical principles in action. We had to start by preparing the ground for the seed to be planted. Following that, we have been very busy sowing seeds, watering and tending to them, and now we are enjoying a bountiful harvest!

Lettuce, spring onion, beetroot, marrow, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower and beans are just some of the vegetables that are growing in our garden.

Food distribution

Since beginning our harvesting in January 2021, Timion has been able to support other local NPOs and partners with vegetable donations providing for families in need. We have collaborated with Beats and Books after school programme, The Leadership Experience and, 7th Heaven orphanage. In total, during January and February, we were able to donate over R4000 worth of vegetables which equates to approx. 330 items/bundles of vegetables.

We are also partnering with The Local Collective (https://thelocalcollective.co.za)  who are selling Timion produce to the local public in Jeffreys Bay.   The Local Collective sees itself as a ‘bridge between local farmers and your Food Pantry and household shelves’

This source of income through the sale of vegetables to those who can afford to buy them helps raise funds for our permanent gardener Sakhile who has now joined the Timion team.

Empowerment of families

Our long-term vision is not only to maintain a Timion vegetable garden but also to enable the Timion families to grow their own "Gardens of Faithfulness". “Gardens of Faithfulness” is a new programme launched by “Farming God's Way” during Lockdown 2020. It was created to enable people to cultivate their own 1x2m vegetable garden. As part of the “Gardens of Faithfulness” programme, we would like to support interested families for six months until they can run their vegetable gardens completely independently. We hope to be able to introduce families to this concept when they visit Jeffreys Bay for camp when, in the future, we have finished the renovations of the new Timion Village site and are able to host camps on our own premises.