Kim Boughton joined her community to help clean up after the devastating looting in KwaZulu-Natal; she found a lone potato and planted it; the crop, which has now been harvested, is being donated to the family that lost their business.
Inchanga, South Africa (17 February 2022) – It has been some time since the harrowing looting in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng in July of 2021, but we have good news to share. Kim Boughton took to her garden community, Livingseeds Veggie Gardeners, and shared what she is calling her own “faith like potatoes” moment.
After the looting in July, Kim and several people from her community came together to help one of the local family businesses to clean up. They went to a warehouse owned by one of the local families and cleared up the mess left behind by looters.
Kim was left in shock throughout the cleanup at how much destruction was left behind. While cleaning the mess, she found a single potato. It was the only one left in the entire Cash and Carry warehouse.
“In that entire massive warehouse only I found a potato which for me was a sign that I had to plant it to try and make some sense of the tragedy that this poor family had gone through and to symbolize that out of the death of their business the growth of this single potato could bring hope”
Kim left the potato to start sprouting and planted it in October when the season allowed. She shared with her gardening community that she could finally harvest the potato crop. She also shared that she plans to give the whole crop of potatoes to the family, as a way of showing them that some good has come from their harrowing experience.
“Today I harvested this [pictured above] happy healthy little crop. Proof that out of bad situations good can grow. I think I’m going to go and give these potatoes to the Muslim family that lost so much on that day but still have faith like potatoes”
We reached out to Kim to find out more about her potato crop. She explained that she harvested 1.5kg of potatoes from the original one she planted last year.
The cash and carry is located in Hammarsdale, and she often sees the family at their shop. She explains that they were unsure if they should rebuild after the looting but thankfully did.
Kim has been a gardener her whole life, having inherited her green fingers from her grandfather. She finds having her hands in the soil a soul-fulfilling task. This is why she decided to plant the potato.
We asked Kim if she has any advice for people wanting to use gardening as a way to give back to others and she had this to say.
“I think if you want to garden be it for yourself or for others the rules stay the same, firstly you have to love what you’re doing, talk to your plants, use good soil or nourish poor soil, work with the bugs (they gotta eat too) and one of grandad’s rules… water before midday in winter and after midday in summer.”
Kim will be delivering her “faith like potatoes” crop to the family next week and looks forward to sharing the story with them.
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