An adventurous spirit took Karin and her partner Mark to Africa 18 years ago. The initial plan was to travel around the continent and then return home but the pair fell in love with what was then a very young and little known country: Botswana. Their commitment to the local people and their love of gardening has resulted in a unique initiative which is providing livelihoods and hope to many who otherwise would have had no options in life. Below is Karin and Mark’s story… Back to Kethoetsweng Kagiso's story

We arrived in Botswana in 1990 after having traveled overland from Darwin. We rented a house on 18 acres in the beautiful village of Mokolodi 12kms from Gaborone the capital of Botswana. Several years later we bought the house and it has been our home ever since. In the early days the only water supply was from a bore hole so we were very careful with our choice of plants. I had a very steep learning curve educating myself about indigenous, summer rainfall dependant plants.

For many years we had people at the door daily needing help with school fees, clothing, funerals etc.   We always gave them money - some of them repaid the money via piece work, the majority did not. We often talked about what could be done to help on a more permanent basis, but in those days we were working 10 hour days 6 days a week and had two small children.

In 2002 we took our children out of school, closed up our photographic studio and drove around Africa for 12 months - we had an arrangement with someone to supervise our gardener and help take care of our lovingly nurtured garden. On our return home we discovered to our horror that she "hadn't managed", the gardener hadn't done anything because he "hadn’t be asked to" AND the rains that year had failed!  After walking around the garden in tears I noticed that there were many plants still alive and just in need of cutting back.  It was then that the idea for the nursery germinated. These plants now form the backbone of the nursery.

We decided that the ‘borehole paddock’ would be the perfect spot to establish the nursery. By this time our house had been connected to mains water supply so we were using the borehole less frequently. After interviewing many people I hired two ladies from the village. The underlying criteria then and now for hiring people is that they come from the Mokolodi area, have no skills, (ie unemployable) and have children (or grandchildren) of schooling age. I then proceeded to teach these ladies how to mix soil and take cuttings.  We had some spectacular failures in the early days - mainly with our soil - I now have a secret recipe for concrete!

Early on, we realised we had a need for manure. This gave rise to our manure project. My first task was to find something to put the manure in. I contacted a local milling company who had 25kg and 50 kg polypropylene bags that they could no longer use. They happily donated them. We distribute these bags out into the 'lands' where the majority of residents are subsistence dwellers.  They fill them with their old kraal manure and either deliver them to the nursery by donkey cart or I collect them with the trailer. They are paid per bag - to date we have paid out over $8,000 (AUD) into the community for manure alone. 

We now employ 6 ladies (who support more than 40 children) and have supplied plants to many corporate companies in Botswana’s capital, Gaborone.  We have a small maintenance contract twice a week with the school my children attend.  Recently we were approached by a major hotel chain, requesting us to assist them with the revamping their gardens to be more 'water wise'.  We have had numerous large companies visit the nursery and have been fortunate enough to be registered as preferred suppliers to some.

The nursery is also open to the general public and while these days we generally cover our costs, in the early days is was quite another story.

Like most nurseries worldwide our business is subject to the whims of the weather but unlike most nurseries we are in a country which is predominantly desert and which has had severe water restrictions for many years.

Our other challenge was that as Botswana was a British protectorate, all landscaping in the past has been along English lines, which clearly was not appropriate. So we are faced with the task of educating people and businesses about the value of indigenous plants. We are trying to specialise in succulent groundcovers and shrubs and aloes.  We raise our aloes from seeds collected by the ladies and the succulents from cuttings. Our most popular plants are as follows:

Groundcovers - Lampranthus, Aptenia, Carprobrotus, Ruschia, Aeonium.

Shrubs - Plumbago, Crassula, Cotyledon, Portulacaria, Carissa, Baleria, Felicia

Aloes – Aloe marlothii, A. wickensii, A. aristata, A. castanea, A.vera,

Trees - Acacias along with indigenous fruit trees like Marula, Mmilo and Azanza and sturdy hedging like Kei Apple.

Over the last two years the nursery has taken on more and more roles - we

• subsidise regular rubbish collection in the area as a way not only to keep the local bush clean but also to create more employment.

• run a small block-making project.  We supply the block making machine, the water and sand. Anyone wanting to make blocks to build a house just needs to bring along their cement and start mixing!

• act as a collection point for clothing, shoes, toys, books etc for distribution out into the village.

The nursery is also used for various meetings. We have social workers visit to discuss issues such as HIV Aids, reproductive health, contraception and have hosted Christmas parties for the village kids (chaos!).

The village women bring their new babies to us and we give new mothers $20 out of nursery funds which is enough for them to buy nappies, food and many other items they may require. Others come to tell us about the death of a family member and give us a shopping list of things required for the funeral or request assistance with the purchase of the coffin.  The nursery has assisted with 12 funerals to date.  The amount of money we provide is decided in consultation with the ladies we employ and guided by what is 'in the pot' at the time. 

My ultimate hope for the nursery is that it will, one day, become self sustainable. The current water restrictions we are facing, along with the effects of global warming are helping to raise awareness about the importance of using drought resistant plants. Only time will tell.

An adventurous spirit took Karin and her partner Mark to Africa 18 years ago. The initial plan was to travel around the continent and then return home but the pair fell in love with what was then a very young and little known country: Botswana. Their commitment to the local people and their love of gardening has resulted in a unique initiative which is providing livelihoods and hope to many who otherwise would have had no options in life.
Karin and Mark’s story.

THIS MONTH KETHOETSWENG KAGISO WHO WORKS FOR MOKOLODI INDIGENOUS NURSERIES TELLS HER STORY....