Growing for the Future in South Africa: Lunch and Learn

Join MCIC and special guests from the Rotary Club of Winnipeg along with their South African partners at Deep Rural Group, as we discuss how women farmers are moving from dependency to dignity through market gardens in South Africa.

Rod and Enoch from Deep Rural Group will share how they are working with farmers in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa. Using sustainable permaculture farming methodologies, participants in this program develop a vegetable garden that produces enough food to both consume and sell to generate income, growing better futures for their families.

The Rotary Club of Winnipeg was founded in 1910. Today, Rotary has more than 1.2 million members and 34,000 Clubs around the world, embracing the motto “Service Above Self” and working to create leaders for tomorrow. Through the generosity of the Manitoba Government Matching Grant Program, MCIC helped fund this project in 2021-22.

Please bring your lunch and join us on Zoom from 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM on Wednesday, May 31 as we learn more about the important work being done in South Africa.

Register for this event

Speakers: 

Robert-400px.png (246 KB)

Robert Campbell

Robert is from South Africa and operates a cargo business there. He has been a member of The Rotary Club since 2002, and is currently a member at the Hillcrest club, serving as the lead on the Foundation and International portfolio and representing the club on the 1000 Survival Gardens Project. The Hillcrest Rotary Club helped fund this project.

Rodney-400px.png (238 KB)

Rodney Spencer

Rodney is passionate about sustainable business as a key to unlocking potential. Over the past 13 years, Rodney has been exposed to various areas of development around Africa, ranging from HIV & AIDS to small scale farming, and the care of orphaned and vulnerable children. For the past 6 years he has been helping NGOs and businesses develop strategies that see real, transparent transformation achieved, and is currently working full time at The African Co-operative Action Trust (ACAT), and before taking this full-time role owned and ran his own development company called Deep Rural Group, the implementing partner for this project.

Enoch-400px.png (258 KB)

Enoch Cindi

With a background in construction and sewage plant operations, Enoch also runs his own farming operation growing crops, fruit trees and raising poultry. He started working with the food security program in 2020 and has been a facilitator for the farming program for several years through Deep Rural Group, training others to grow and sell produce. He is very proud of the Rotary project in his community, and his long-term plans include creating a farming school and further developing his agricultural business in the KwaNgcolosi area.  

Gary Dawyduk.JPG (667 KB)

Gary Dawyduk

Gary is a lifetime Winnipegger who has long been engaged in supporting initiatives in South Africa, having served on the board of Manitoba's local anti-apartheid coalition in the 1990s and as the secretary and treasurer of the local South Africa Education Support Projects committee since its inception in the early 1990s. Gary was recruited into the Rotary Club of Winnipeg in 2020, is currently serving on the club's World Community Services Committee, and is also a member of the ad hoc committee overseeing the "1000 Survival Gardens Project" in support of women and families in economically marginalized South African rural communities.

View All Events