Meet Chris
BECDC Head and Community Leader
Chris Hartzenberg saw the social degradation and the repercussions of drug abuse creating havoc in his community on the Cape Flats. He sat down and devised a plan to tackle the problem through sustainable farming. With the help of Fareed Ismail, a mechanical engineering lecturer at CPUT Bellville, he started an aquaponics food garden in 2012 which has been going from strength to strength. Ismail invented a mobile-solar-powered-aquaponics-unit which was successfully piloted at the Belhar Early Childhood Development Centre (BECDC).
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The food garden grows a various assortment of crops like tomatoes, green peppers, lettuce, parsley and basil just to mention a few. These crops help feed the almost 100 children from the neighbourhood attending the crèche. It educates the children about sustainable farming, germs and helps in creating a love for gardening.
