My World My Garden - Sister Walls
Food security is a challenge the world over in both developing and developed countries. The challenge is not that we cannot provide food.
“We” can provide instant gratification, but this is a short term and band-aid solution. The challenge is being able to provide sustainable food sources. The solution is to transfer skills and to develop sustainable locally based food sources. This is the intent and underlying objective of the My Arms Wide Open, My World My Garden Cause through the establishment and management of My World In A Garden® vertical food walls. My World In a Garden®
Our goal is to construct two sister Vertical Food Wall Systems based on the design and technology of the living wall designed by acclaimed South African artist, Dylan Lewis - http://http://www.designindaba.com/news-snippet/untamed-garden The original wall was an important component of Lewis’s “Untamed” exhibition in beautiful Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens in South Africa. Timed to coincide with and celebrate the country’s hosting of the 2010 Soccer World Cup. Untamed is a thought-provoking showcase of sculpture, poetry and architecture, which explores the lost balance between humankind and nature. We intend to take it a step further by using the technology and design to create living food wall systems.
Using Lewis’s original design, My Arms Wide Open is proposing to build two identical live walls as food walls that will use both vegetable and fruit plants in place of the regular plants used in the original design. One will be located in the Town of Cradock, Eastern Cape, South Africa. The other, a mirror of the Cradock live food wall will be located in the Downtown Eastside, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada at the Ray-Cam Community Centre. The Vancouver living vertical garden, like its sister wall in South Africa, will bring focus to community, food security and family. In each instance, we run our Iziko Labahlali (Mindset) Program to engage the younger members of the community directly. The first program related to the food wall project will be run at the Ray-Cam Community Centre in the beginning of August 2011. You can find out about the program at: http://myarmswideopen.org/causes/my-mentor-my-coach.html.
To support this project go to the Global Giving Foundation website at My World in a Garden - Sister Walls and make a difference by remitting your donation!
Cradock, South Africa
The first of our community gardens has finally taken shape. Our first garden has been established at the Nomzamo Day Care Centre in Cradock. The centre has 50 children enrolled. The next step is to install our first living wall in the garden using the same frames as where used to build the living wall at Kirstenbosch Gardens for the FIFA Soccer World Cup.
What this space for more updates and pictures coming soon!
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