A Man Cultivates Vegetable Garden On His Pavement For The Hungry – We Are The World Blogfest #WATWB
The aim of We Are The World Blogfest is to shine a little light on any darkness in the world or in ourselves, by sharing uplifting stories. The blogfest seeks to promote positive news. There are many cases of love and light out there, stories that show compassion and the resilience of the human spirit. Sharing these stories increases our awareness of hope in our increasingly dark world. This gathering takes place once a month.
Our special lead co-hosts for this month are: Shilpa Garg, Inderpreet Uppal, Sylvia Stein, Susan Scott, Andrea Michaels and Damyanti Biswas.
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A retired South Africa policeman has started a vegetable garden on his pavement to feed the hungry.
Johan Scott, a retired policeman from Heidelberg, South Africa started the vegetable garden on his pavement after his cauliflower was stolen. He realised that there were people that are hungry in his neighbourhood so he decided to cultivate an even bigger garden on his pavement in order to feed more people.
“It makes my heart happy when I see people eating my vegetables”.
“That is why I planted this, because the people are hungry, they need this”
Scott decided to plant beans, tomatoes, eggplants and beetroot for the local community to help themselves to free produce. He hoped that this garden would change how many hungry people there are in his town.
His act of kindness has sparked a warming in our hearts and we are not alone! Facebook users have been sharing their love for this act of kindness and some even stated how much they respect Johan. The hope is that this selfless and generous act will inspire more people in the town and around South Africa to become proactive in the fight to prevent hunger.
There are many places around South Africa that have vegetable gardens for the homeless, these offer a form of employment and a food source for people actively working to change their circumstances.
“Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.” – Desmond Tutu
We commend Johan for his generous act and hope his crops are plentiful!
This generous act reinforces my belief in the following quote:
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Hi Michelle – what a wonderful idea … and his pavement is quite large. I so admire people like Johan who help their community in such giving ways .. let’s hope Heidelburg and other SA towns will add more pavement gardens. Brilliant – thanks for sharing with us – cheers Hilary
This is a wonderful story Michelle. I’m sure it could be done in more places. Fil
How neat that his reaction to having his cauiflower stolen was not to hoard more tightly, but to open his arms wider. It makes me want to get to know more people like this.
This story really warms my heart. I LOVE simple inspirations that carried out can have a big impact. Not only is Johan doing a kind and generous thing for his community, but hopefully others are inspired in countless other areas to do the same.
Brilliant idea. I love ‘guerilla gardening’. Should be encouraged everywhere.
What a wonderful thing for him to do. With a garden, he’s providing healthy food, too.
Hi, Michelle – I love this story! Such a creative, generous yet simple idea. Thank you so much for sharing it. I look forward to checking out more of your site.
I saw this story too Michelle and nearly used it as well! I think I FB’d it! Johan Scott’s act is inspirational indeed. I know of quite a few initiatives of pavement gardening where the weary domestic worker or gardener returning home can pluck enough for the time being. And even of gardening on roof tops! Thank you so much for giving this exposure. And thank you again helping me out on the linky link – an act of kindness by you much appreciated by me! xx
“From little things big things grow”. I love this story, Michelle. So simple and yet potentially so life-giving. I also like that instead of retaliating he transformed the need for food in such a concrete way. Thanks for sharing.
It is very important that we donthe rsndom acts if kindness daily.That way things will change.Veggie garden is a winderful idea.
This man has a large heart, filled with kindness.
A garden to feed the hungry is what all religion, politics and commerce should be about.
Thanks for sharing this wonderful story, Michelle!
Simply heartwarming. Thanks for sharing this.
What a heartwarming story. And he is surely an inspiration. I wish more people would do this.