Episode Information

SEEDS is an inspirational award winning NGO that uses permaculture to enrich the township environment and provide working class Cape Tonian youth with vocational skills and connections to ecological job opportunities. The stats are impressive 987 teachers trained, 33796 school learners reached, 4695 textbooks distributed, 118 under-employed youth trained, 13 climate-adapted house models created. We focus on Imran - an Alumni, now lead SEEDS facilitator he shows off an exciting colourful project their Mediterrean Food Project and introduces us to some of the other SEEDs participants. Imran gives us his interpretation of SEEDS, what it has given him, but also the value of permaculture to an area like Mitchell Plains in granting it greater resilience by providing extra food and water security - pressing issues in this part of the world. We intercut Imran’s narration with excerpts from some of the many short videos he presents and produces for SEEDS - this introduces us to some of the other wonderful characters in the SEEDS community people like 80 yr old Alice a late convert to permaculture. SEEDs is entering a new and exciting phase with 3 new programmes launching in November as well as ambitious and very visual [not to say tasty] launch of their Mediterranean Food project that we can capture. SEEDS are also recording more alumni stories over the next few weeks so soundbites from these can also be potentially dropped into the film where appropriate. We can allude to the wider historical context of Mitchell Plains where the project is based. An area that speaks to South Africa’s troubled past, MP was designed from the scratch by the aparteid regime for non-whites only - with its small pokey dwellings it was deliberately located in an arid infertile area. SEEDS are seeding Oases. Imran could be the presenter interviewing others about the project.