Galela Amanzi and Umthathi will celebrate the launch of a rainwater tank at Tantyi Primary School on Monday 31 May, sponsored by Shoprite Checkers. This is Galela Amanzi’s sixth site and 9th tank installed overall. It is Shoprite Checkers’s second rainwater tank to be sponsored.
The Galela Amanzi project works with local non-government organisations (NGOs) to install rainwater tanks in key locations in the historically disadvantaged and water scarce regions of Grahamstown. The tanks provide water for irrigating community vegetable gardens, for cooking and drinking purposes, as well as keeping schools open when they experience water shortages.
The school was shortlisted because it has committed teachers, a vegetable garden, a need for expanded water supply and the participation of community partners – as such, it demonstrated the requirements of Galela Amanzi as an organisation and Rhodes University Community Engagement.
Furthermore, it was recommended by Umthathi and receives a very low government subsidy that does not support the vegetable garden, meaning that the teachers and students must run it independently.
The decision was supported by the newly-formed Galela Amanzi Community Committee, which includes at least one member from each of the participating sites, as well as interested parties in Grahamstown.
In 2007 the Galela Amanzi project began a partnership relationship with Umthathi, a local NGO, who has since become the primary community partner in the project. Galela Amanzi has additionally been constituted from, and supported by, its partnerships with the Centre for Social Development, the Kowie Catchment Campaign, and the Institute for Water Research.
As a result of Galela Amanzi’s partners’ interaction and activities in the greater Grahamstown community, these organisations were able to identify that many locations in Grahamstown East suffer from water shortages and cut-offs. This has a detrimental impact on schooling and general quality of life, yet it also particularly impacts on the vegetable gardens (Umthathi’s core mandate).
Since the launch of the project, Galela Amanzi has successfully set up tanks at these locations in Grahamstown: Sun City Community Centre, Andrew Moyake Primary School, St Augustine’s Church, Eluxwoleni Children’s Shelter and Samuel Ntsiko Public Primary School.
As with all community engagement projects at Rhodes University, Galela Amanzi has now moved under the Community Engagement office and is also active in its new capacity as a student society under the Student Representative Council (SRC).
Furthermore, the project has several research components: Rhodes students are using the project as a means of understanding the role that non-profit organisations can play in the post-apartheid water sector, as well as looking at the applicability of rainwater harvesting on a broader basis in Grahamstown.
Galela Amanzi intends on being a teaching and learning opportunity for all students involved – one that makes a small-scale, yet replicable, impact on a large social and environmental problem.
All university members and Grahamstown locals are invited to attend this launch.