Devon Centocow Link is a Charity that has been running for 20 years in the County which supports pre-schools and nurseries in an impoverished part of KwaZulu Natal in South Africa. The collection of schools that are now supported has reached 68. In Devon we might be talking about breakfast clubs and school dinners, in this rural part of South Africa, food poverty among children is just as acute and important. 

The South African Government understands and appreciates the importance of these rural pre-schools but has been unable to fund them properly as a result of bureacracy, local tribal politics, an element of corruption and criminality in the country. Most of the 68 nurseries have both a building and an area outside which for a long time the Authorities have imagined that this would be a place space and a garden. The concept of a garden within the compound has several benefits, it provides food for the children to eat, it teaches them about good vegetable farming practices which allow them to practice these skills with their parents at home and finally it stops wild animals from eating the vegetables.

The importance of these gardens has been recognised for a few years, especially since the Covid pandemic has subsided and a small number of successful projects have sprung up in the area that have coalesced into a charitable group called the Food and Gardens Project, being created to roll out and manage these nursery garden projects over the months and years that they need to exist before they become self-sustaining and produce the necessary crops and subsequent dividends.

Simply put, it is hard to learn when you are hungry and undernourished - a problem that is as relevant to our part of rural Devon as it is to KwaZulu Natal.

The Devon Centocow Link Charity has raised money for projects in the pre-schools for over 20 years and every few years volunteers from the Charity visit Centocow to assist and bring back ideas and new stories. The Charity has a small but faithful following and publishes a regular newsletter to its Members and supporters. You can access their website at www.devoncentocowlink.org. 

To assist with the costs of entering the gardens of the pre-schools that DCL supports, the Charity wants to give a £100 donation to the Food and Gardens Project for each of the 68 pre-schools. It has some funds of its own plus grants that it receives but on this occasion needs more. So it has launched a Crowdfunding exercise via the Crowdfunder web site for the additional funds it needs.

They need an additional £3500 via the Crowdfunder, and donations have already begun. So if you want to help and pledge any sum, you won't be alone and your donation will be well worth it.