Mzomoyethu Crèche, Gudlintaba: designing with water
Water harvesting and food growing at Mzomoyethu Crèche: tanks, swales and a holding pond supply protected growing areas, with irrigation monitored using a timer and water meter.
The close-out record describes a dry, gravelly site with limited water. The garden needed runoff capture, water storage, drought-hardy plants and irrigation suited to these conditions.
People and programme.
Rory’s role
Rory served as Permaculture Specialist across the Mandlakazi programme, connecting site design, practical training and implementation support.
Delivery team
African Conservation Trust, Zululand Conservation Trust and Manyoni Game Reserve, with Zimisele Luthuli providing on-site facilitation and mentorship. Within this Mandlakazi project group, the three named crèches were Ubhejane, Mzomoyethu and Mbhuzeli.
Project record
The Mzomoyethu close-out report and October 2020 Mandlakazi programme report document the design, installation and follow-up work.
The work
The field response
01
Plant for drought
Selected drought-hardy plants for the dry, gravelly site.
02
Protect young plants
Used shade and tree protection to reduce establishment losses under severe conditions.
03
Measure the water
Introduced a timer and a water meter to control and measure irrigation.
04
Observe and adjust
Fine-tuned watering through continued field observation and mentorship.
05
Learn on the ground
Connected the site work to the wider Mandlakazi practical-training programme, which included five-day permaculture courses in each community.
The project record
On the ground, over time.
Rory Clark’s drone archive · July 2019, November 2020 and June 2022
The whole site: July 2019, November 2020, June 2022
Aerial comparison of Mzomoyethu Crèche in July 2019, November 2020 and June 2022, showing the installation of swales, a pond, tanks and shade cloth around the garden. All three photographs cover the same 75 by 75 metre area. Grey corners mark areas outside the original photographs.
Text description
Silent loop, north up, about 75 by 75 metres of the same ground in every frame. Each change stops half way, the earlier date on one side and the later on the other. July 2019, before the works: dry, bare ground around the crèche building and its fenced yard. November 2020: swales and berms, the pond south of the building, shade cloth over the garden and tanks beside the building. June 2022, after the works: the garden under and beside the shade cloth. Then back to July 2019.
Rory Clark’s drone archive · October 2019 earthworks and hydrology plan
The October 2019 design over the same ground
The October 2019 earthworks and hydrology plan alongside aerial photographs from July 2019 and June 2022. The plan shows proposed swales, basins, tanks, pipework and a pond.
Text description
Silent loop, north up. Each change stops half way, the two frames side by side. July 2019, before the works. October 2019, the design: the earthworks and hydrology sheet over the same photograph, with fence beds, large tree basins, raised vegetable beds, crescent tree basins, berms, swales and diversion mounds, the tanks, pipes and pond, and drip irrigation. June 2022, after the works. Then back to July 2019.
Original field clip · filmed by Rory Clark · site confirmed
The Gudlintaba swale carrying water
Water moving through the second swale between the food forest and vegetable garden at Gudlintaba Crèche, with vegetation established around it.
Text description
Water coming to the swale. This is the second swale. Look at this, man—look at the swale. It is in the garden. This is the swale between the food forest and the vegetable garden. Look at the garden—everything is green. You see, the green is coming, although parthenium is all over.
Photographs and drawings
Water systems and growing areas
Water design summary Conceptual summary of the October 2019 earthworks and hydrology plan: roof catchment, storage, runoff capture and protected growing areas.Watering the vegetable beds Watering leafy vegetables beneath shade cloth at Mzomoyethu Crèche.Rainwater in the holding pond Water held on site after the pond and surrounding earthworks were installed, from the close-out report.Protected growing space Mulched beds, young trees and shade protection beside the crèche, from the close-out report.Crèche programme visit with Kingsley Holgate Rory, two Imbewu Yoshintso colleagues and Kingsley Holgate during the crèche programme, from Rory’s archive.
Sources
The records behind this project.
Primary programme record
Mzomoyethu Crèche Food Garden Closeout Report and Mandlakazi programme reports. Used to verify the design layers, field conditions and implementation record.
Site name
Rory’s updated project record identifies Mzomoyethu as the Gudlintaba crèche, so this dossier uses the name “Mzomoyethu Crèche · Gudlintaba”. The source drawing spells it “Mzamoyethu”.
Gudlintaba drone film in the project archive. The title provides site-level attribution.
Whole-site loops
Drone photographs from three dates registered to one 75 by 75 metre north-up frame: the July 2019 underlay of the October 2019 earthworks and hydrology sheet, an 8 November 2020 nadir flown at 84 m with its south-east corner completed from a second frame of the same flight at 124 m, and the 28 June 2022 nadir flown at 81 m. The design comparison adds the proposed October 2019 earthworks and hydrology plan over the same ground.
A crèche garden in KwaZulu-Natal with municipal water storage, swales, protected vegetable beds and a propagation nursery, documented from 2019 to 2022.
