STUDENT volunteers from the University of the West Indies (UWI), along with 22 visiting colleagues from the University of Costa Rica, have built a green suspended wall garden for residents of African Gardens, August Town.

The garden is located in the multi-purpose courtyard of the community. Its construction was funded by UWI Township, the outreach arm of the university which allows students to offer volunteer services to members of August Town, the community which immediately surrounds the campus.

It was after visiting the community last October and assisting with the construction of new walls and fencing around the multi-purpose courtyard that DouDou Kalala, UWI Township volunteer and Canadian development agency CUSO representative, suggested the idea of starting a suspended wall garden in the community.

“The place is called African Gardens, but if you look around, there’s actually no garden. So I thought of how to create a garden in this space and a suspended wall garden seemed ideal to me,” Kalala told Career & Education.

Kalala said that, after he suggested the idea, he tried his utmost to push the idea forward, mainly because the community would stand to benefit in numerous ways.

“I thought this initiative could benefit the community, because they are also growing their own food, and I think that is important,” he said.

On January 22, he along with the students planted 50 food plants consisting of peppers, pak choi, corns, and tomatoes within the suspended wall garden.

The idea was one which members of the township and students of the university welcomed.

Michael-Edward James, administrative research assistant at the township, said the project not only provides a greener and eco-friendly environment, but it promotes peace and unity among community members.

“We want to build on the social capital in the community by helping to reduce crime and violence. The main reason for this is to help the community to build within. We believe this will help the community a lot, because the community is currently trying to find ways to reduce some of the plastic material which cause pollution,” James said.

He added that from this initiative he hopes the community members will “look at their garbage in a new way”.

Last October, UWI students and New Era Fencing representatives went to African Gardens, pulled down the old and rusted zinc fences and constructed new walls and wired fencing at a cost of approximately $500,000. The Guild of Students and the Social Work Club also contributed.