Bedfordview resident Jomaine Towers has founded Kiss The Earth movement – which is focused on caring about the wildlife and communities in Johannesburg. Towers and a group of friends will be doing a monthly clean up and a planting session.
Recently Towers and three women assisted in cleaning the Kensington mountain behind Darras Centre and also handed out water and some food to the homeless. ‘The first stage we worked for three hours straight and barely made a dent, so we will be back there in two weeks time with more volunteers, hopefully, and a pot of soup or stew for the people that live up there,’ said Towers.
Towers said they will be planting plants that are beneficial to wildlife and the community, such as fruit trees, herbs, shrubs and vegetables as well as oxygen and carbon rich plants and trees. She wants to one day see Johannesburg being partly sustainable, in the sense that everyone has food to eat. ‘I have envisioned vegetable patch sidewalks and a whole bunch of species coming back to grace us with their presence. I want my children, your children and their grandchildren to be able to experience earth as we know it now and hopefully even better than what it is now.’
She is calling on Johannesburg residents to donate plants or anything they are willing to help with, such as: rubbish bags, spades, potting soil or compost, seedlings, rakes, pots or whatever people may have lying around. People can also donate money to the cause or volunteer.
Towers’ mission is to look after her community – which includes the whole of Johannesburg. ‘Looking after my community involves cleaning up, planting plants that are native to South Africa, and educating and looking after my fellow community members regardless or race, culture, colour, religion or creed. This is why I didn’t mind hugging a homeless man during a pandemic. I am hoping to try and get this particular man off drugs and hopefully by doing that he can help others to do the same.’
KISS THE EARTH MOVEMENT
074 577 8007
