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- The University of Pretoria's "One health for change" project is changing the lives of women.
- The project aims to break the cycle of poverty.
- One woman says she used to beg for food at traffic lights, but now she has found a way to feed her family.
A Gauteng woman, who spent her days at traffic lights to beg for food, says she has found a way to feed her family, thanks to the University of Pretoria's "One health for change" project.
The project, which started in 2019, aims to break the cycle of poverty.
The project currently supports 25 women, who live in the Cemetery View informal settlement in Pretoria East, by improving their food security and offering a more diverse diet.
Together with community health workers, the women worked with the University of Pretoria to improve access to eggs as a source of protein for their families.
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Alongside the egg project, the women plant vegetables, such as cabbage, tomatoes, spinach and sweet potatoes, while also attending sustainable healthy eating workshops.
One of the women, Sharon Sithole, 26, told News24 she used to beg for food or money at traffic lights, but she found a way to feed her family through the project.
Although her husband worked part-time, she still needed to beg for food.
Now, that's all in the past.
"This project makes our lives easier, and it has changed our lives - from begging to harvesting," she said.
"We are very happy, and we thank those who brought the project to us."
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Sithole said not only was she getting food from the project, but it would assist her in starting her own vegetable business.
Rebaone Madzivhandila, the informal settlement coordinator, who works at the department of family medicine community-oriented primary care at the University of Pretoria, said the women have taken ownership of their lives.
"I have seen the lives of the women improving and they are starting to take ownership of their lives. Their dedication and motivation have been proven by the success of the project, by making time to water the garden and to attend each training as required.
"The aim of the project was to promote female urban farming (food production) and transfer critical health and social skills for health and livelihood for the urban residents of Cemetery View informal settlement."
She said SA Cares and the Lewende Woord Church were active partners in providing the land and the necessary resources to establish and maintain the project.
She added that the project was "ready to take to scale and affect more families".
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