Others are harvesting and conserving water successfully, benefiting financially from the sale of plants, developing an impressive range of products from recycled waste and assisting nearby schools to improve their environments. We are proud to promote a project as important as Permaculture. This year 63 finalist schools, approximately seven from each province, have been selected from over 330 school projects. The overall winners will receive materials such as fencing, irrigation, plants and other items to develop their projects, but the real prize for all finalists is a trip to Gauteng and the weekend they will spend together presenting their projects to each other and the adjudicators, and attending Permaculture, environmental, performing arts and music workshops. Most of the children and many of the teachers have never travelled out of their towns, which adds to the excitement of the event.
All finalists also receive environmental resource materials and seeds.
The response was overwhelming with most teachers responding enthusiastically to this simple and effective approach to food security, environmental health and outcomes based education. Here Minister Ronnie Kasrils plants a tree in memory of Henry Ntsele at the Ebony Park Primary School, Midrand during Arbor Week 1999. Minister Kasrils displayed a fiery passion for his new portfolio in his address to the Alexandra community and VIP s at the launch of Arbor Week 1999 in Gauteng at the All Africa Games Village. Mr Kasrils said President Thabo Mbeki had asked all South Africans to, plant a tree to life, to remembrance, to healing and to greening . The Minister said that many societies had recognised that trees have spiritual, religious and healing aspects apart from the fact that they enrich the earth and provide food.