Originally published by: Dispatch live
Author: Sivenathi Gosa
Former landscape architect and president of Avant Gardening and Landscaping, Liza Lightfoot, established a charity organisation, Kidlinks Small Farm Incubator (KSFI) in 2004 which was initially motivated by the affect of HIV/Aids on children in SA and then expanded into grooming young farmers in the Eastern Cape.
“In 2004, with the help of several other expatriate South Africans in Madison, US, we established the charity organisation which was set up to address the needs of Aids orphans and vulnerable children in SA.
“From there I met University of Wisconsin director of the Centre for Integrated Agriculture System, Dr Michael Bell, who was working with several colleagues in the Eastern Cape at the time,” she said.
Lightfoot said they formed a relationship about agro-ecological projects in the province with the help of Mpumelelo Ncwadi, who is the co-founder of KSFI.
“As the Kidlinks representative, my work is centred on school food gardens, where I organise the international students visiting SA from the US.
“During these visits, we discussed how we could launch a permanent project to address the issue of youth unemployment, food security and climate change in the Eastern Cape,” she said.