The Rotary Club of Sea Point donated trees to the Colin Eglin library in Sea Point on Sunday September 13.
Library volunteer Carin Lilienfeld says many children use the grounds while they wait for taxis or to be collected after school. Sometimes they see her pottering around upcycling and revamping what was a neglected garden. She says they want to know what she is doing and she lets them join her in weeding and planting. Meanwhile she teaches them not to pick flowers and not to kill anything that moves.
Ms Lilienfeld has a vision of creating a colourful and stimulating playground for the children. Future plans include adding to the veggie garden which has been planted with vegetables that children can pick and eat. She is also planning to plant fruit trees and this is where Rotary stepped in.
Rotary Sea Point president Farhat Danyal said the tree planting project is their first with the library. This is part of Rotary’s motto of “service above self”.
She said the idea is to get the children to help with the garden and then offer a reward such as visiting the Blue Train, a Rotary project. The children want to change and want to be part of a community, she said, they see a future in areas like this that they don’t find at home.
Ms Lilienfeld does weeding and planting cuttings that she had collected from various places and donations. She wants to start a recycling project and get specialists to give talks on topics such as the impact of littering. Another project is to use wine barrels on the concrete circle and have seating in between.
For councillor Dave Bryant this was his last public engagement.
On Thursday September 10 he became a member of national parliament for the next four years.
Making reference to the “broken window theory”, Mr Bryant said people would be less likely to damage it if they see that it looks nice.
Ward councillor Nicola Jowell helped him to plant one of the trees.
