Area landscapers volunteer in South Africa

By Pamela Cotant

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Paul Ganshert took a 11/2-week trip in March with other volunteer landscapers to create a play area for schoolchildren in Kei Mouth, South Africa.

The project was organized by another landscaper, Liza Lightfoot of Avant Gardening and Landscapes in McFarland and her friend, Michelle Storm; both are natives of South Africa. Lightfoot also went on the trip along with Dave Watts, owner of Watts Landscape, and his brother, Jerry Watts, production manager at Watts, and Susan Yost of Landscape Preservation in New Glarus.

The play area was designed around ideas found in Dave Watts' master's thesis about creating playgrounds that encourage children's imaginations partly by incorporating nature, rather than relying on structures. After shaping the land, the group put in a sandbox, vegetable and herb gardens, a maze, a spot for playing marbles, a cedar stage area for performances and an upside tree for climbing. The volunteers also installed small teeter totters, huts for playing in, swings, and structures that provide shade and have ropes for climbing.

The group raised $1,500 for materials, purchased in South Africa, through a new nonprofit organization called Kid Links. The landscapers paid for their own flights.

Next year, the group plans to return to South Africa for another project, possibly a play area for older students at the same school. In addition, the group wants to raise money for other items needed by the school such as computers and lab supplies.
pcotant@mailbag.com

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Children at a school in Kei Mouth, South Africa, climb around on a structure built by a group of landscapers from the Capital Region. The group is planning a return trip to build more play equipment and, they hope, bring other needed supplies to the school.

Children at a school in Kei Mouth, South Africa, climb around on a structure built by a group of landscapers from the Capital Region. The group is planning a return trip to build more play equipment and, they hope, bring other needed supplies to the school.
(DAVE WATTS)