Progress in Papakura

February 2011

It took just one month for the Peteli Community Garden Project to become a reality in Papakura.

The expansive garden, located in Papakura’s Red Cress Reserve, was ploughed and planted in four weeks in November last year. The Papakura Tongan Community Association received funding from the Counties Manukau District Health Board’s Creating a Better Future strategy to establish the project.

“Our people, when they have things like this, they work hard for it,” says association spokeswoman Tiulipe Hunt of the work that went into establishing the garden so quickly. “People very keen, very happy. It’s like a new life for Papakura.”

About 42 families have a share of the garden, each looking after three rows of crops. Another 15 families want to be involved but cannot because of a lack of space.

“The community’s happy to do this because some of them said that’s a good way of bringing people together and also we can eat vegetables. Some of them, they don’t have enough money. They just eat the meat only,” Tiulipe says.

For the families with rows and for those on the waiting list, the garden has become a focal point with people gathering at the reserve to tend their crops, harvest or simply talk and enjoy each other’s company. During a Wednesday morning site visit, families continually arrive to garden, or lay out mats to share some food together.

“This is a good time,” says Tiulipe. “The first for Pacific Tongan community to know each other and that way we work together in the garden so we know each other and help each other. Not just a garden.

“Also our action. Here we do work instead of staying home for nothing. Physical work together.”

Families have chosen a variety of plants to grow including kumara, tomato, silverbeet, bok choi, watermelon, corn, spring onion, capsicum, celery, cabbage, bean, lettuce, taro and pumpkin.

“And people are learning to love broccoli,” say Tiulipe.

The garden’s success has seen it outgrow the space available, with produce literally overflowing and families waiting to be included.

“Some people have watermelon but the kumara cover it. It’s too small. We need more space to separate the kumara from vegetables.”

In addition to running nutrition courses to teach people how to use the food they grow, the association is also encouraging people to plant gardens at home, which may help address the lack of space.

The CMDHB grant was spent on preparing the land, buying plants and installing a fence around the site.

CMDHB’s Creating a Better Future strategy promotes healthy eating, physical activity, being smokefree and the safe use of alcohol in order to prevent or delay the onset of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, chronic respiratory diseases and many cancers in our community.