Mpunzi Drift and Greenville Nursery

So the kids are back in school today (their holiday vacation is obv a bit longer), so the ride to work was even more interesting with students walking in packs all along R61.

Yesterday I had my most exciting/craziest day of work so far. This is how the morning started en route...

One of the big initiatives as I told in my blog is this massive vegetable production/nursery, etc. So yesterday I went and did two site visits at irrigation schemes - Mpunzi Drift and Greenville - with my client, who is the Mbizana Development and Planning Manager, and a few of her counterparts from the Dept of Agriculture. Last week we had a meeting about the project, but hearing about the "need for a better access road" in a meeting and then seeing it first hand, nothing really comes to life until you're on site. (One Up friends - consider this my agricultural equivalent of doing a site expo at a plant or a DC.)

Below, I am here at Mpunzi Drift talking about initial plans for growing the nursery and next steps (or as called here, "way forward") to execute.

Next it was off to Greenville. Below, is the team of workers at the Greenville Nursery welcoming us. As you can see, the women wear traditional Xhosa headbands and clothing when working with the crops. These are some of the strongest people I have ever met, you can see the labor in their hands and feet. We had a meeting with the Greenville group to talk about the vegetable project, and the Dept of Agriculture (DOA) Councillor and Managers talked about the growth plans. The meeting was held entirely in Xhosa, which the Manager translated for me. Then as is custom for a visitor, they asked me to say a few words (they show such appreciation of my presence and work hearing I am with UNDP). I introduced myself and spoke of my excitement and the honor to be there... really they just want the confidence, belief, and the upbeat motivation that they can be successful in the vegetable project, that we are there to help. The DOA Mgr translated my words into Xhosa and minus the language barrier, you could see a similar connection and understanding between us all. Here I am, the outsider and only white/American in a simple tiny room (4 cement walls and a tin roof) and I am so welcomed. It’s extremely humbling.

Lastly, we finished the day transporting 50 bags of potatoes from Mpunzi to another home closer to Bizana, which would eventually go to market in Bizana. As you can see, we're unloading the bags by throwing them to one another in assembly line fashion - here I am with the DOA Councillor. Pretty fun catching and tossing bags of potatoes.