20 October 2010
Soil for Life (SFL), a gardening training programme, is making a significant contribution in curbing unemployment and uplifting poor families in the Western Cape. The organisation promotes self-sustenance in households, through teaching community members how to grow their own food and develop skills to generate income.

The project was established in 2002 and is based in Cape Town, and works with approximately 25 community gardening projects across six key areas: Gugulethu, Langa, Samora, Phillipi, South Peninsula and Touws Rivier. The project assists communities to overcome poverty, hunger and unemployment through the development of urban agricultural and small business skills. The organisation runs education and training workshops in small scale organic food production, soil improvement methods, waste recycling, health and nutrition, plant propagation and nursery skills, and the setting up of local markets.

The programme's continued success has been boosted by two separate R80,000 donations made by the Anglo American Chairman's Fund, which went towards the project's three Food Growing Enterprises (FGE) and two Home Food Gardening Programmes (HFGP). The programmes benefit 410 people directly, with each beneficiary having six indirect benefactors, adding up to about 2,460 indirect beneficiaries.

Soil for Life's director, Pat Featherstone, says that the Anglo American Chairman's Fund's financial boost is extremely valuable to the organisations advancement and the economic empowerment of the beneficiaries, especially the women who form 80% of the projects membership.

"Every bit of funding that we receive is important to us as a non-profit organisation, and the Anglo American Chairman's Fund's support over the last three years has been vital to us as we have managed to expand our projects' impact," says Featherstone. Emphasising the significance of this project, chairman of the Anglo American Chairman's Fund, Norman Mbazima, says, "Soil for Life provides economic empowerment, and underpins stable, long-term individual and societal upliftment. It is therefore making a profound difference in helping people develop their full potential, as well as empowering themselves and their communities."

"At Anglo American we believe that corporate social investment initiatives should reap long term rewards and create sustainable living for communities, and Soil for Life is a perfect example of this. Rather than merely providing a quick-fix solution, Soil for Life is creating a long term solution, ensuring sustainability and deep social change for people living in these communities," concludes Mbazima.

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For further information, please contact:

South Africa
Pranill Ramchander, Media Relations
Tel: +27 (0)11 638 2592

Editors Notes:

Soil for Life
Based in Cape Town in the Western Cape, Soil for Life was established in 2002. It works closely with local communities, NGO's, local councils and government in the development and implementation of sustainable food gardening schemes within the target communities.

Anglo American
Anglo American plc is one of the world's largest mining companies, is headquartered in the UK and listed on the London and Johannesburg stock exchanges. It's portfolio of mining businesses spans precious metals and minerals – in which it is a global leader in both platinum and diamonds; base metals – copper and nickel; and bulk commodities – iron ore, metallurgical coal and thermal coal. Anglo American is committed to the highest standards of safety and responsibility across all its businesses and geographies and to making a sustainable difference in the development of the communities around its operations. The company's mining operations and extensive pipeline of growth projects are located in southern Africa, South America, Australia, North America and Asia.
www.angloamerican.com

Anglo American Chairman's Fund
The Anglo American Chairman's Fund, throughout its nearly 60 year history, has worked with thousands of ordinary South Africans who do extraordinary things to uplift their fellow citizens. As the leading corporate donor in South Africa, the Anglo American Chairman's Fund is committed to growing an informed understanding of the challenges these people face. It applies its resources to help these change champions best achieve their visions by giving them access to funding, guiding and advising organisations when needed, and offering networking opportunities. Ultimately, it strives to create environments in which ordinary people are given support to assume greater control over their lives.