Mary-Anne Mngomezulu (née Cunning-ham) radiates the kindness and compassion one would expect of an angel. Together with the homeless people at the drug- and alcohol-free shelter on the corner of Marine Way and Sea Witch Avenue in Plettenberg Bay, she has curated a magnificent food and medicinal permaculture garden using no pesticides whatsoever.
The entire garden is testimony to what the homeless community is capable of achieving, and is always overflowing with vegetables, various herbs, fruit trees, grains and flowers. Here people work joyfully alongside Mary-Anne – weeding, building Hügelkultur compost heaps, creating new beds, sowing, planting and cooking up the harvests.
The shelter receives very few monetary contributions. Instead, Mary-Anne has created an exchange of energy further to benefit the community, using the shelter’s plants, as well as donations from strangers. This, she believes, has kept their
