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Urgent appeal
Haarlem started rising in 2025. Help us keep it growing.
In 2025, young people in Haarlem learnt to lay irrigation, plough, plant and sew, taught by experts from their own community. Then they harvested potatoes and sunflowers and sold what they grew at Haarlem's first Sunflower Festival & Farmers' Market. Now we urgently need €8,800 so our founder, Theophilus van Rensburg Lindzter, can travel to South Africa to lead the next round of training.
Two films, one season in Haarlem
The first film shows the training. The second follows the season through to the harvest and the market.
Strength of Haarlem
The training: irrigation, soil and seed, the nursery tunnel, ploughing and planting, sewing and digital skills.
Haarlem Rising
The season: planting, watering day and night, seeing growth, the harvest and taking it to market.
Produced & narrated by Theophilus van Rensburg Lindzter · Photography & videography by Azania M. Badenhorst · More on YouTube: @upliftment4life
From bare ground to market day
The programme is practical from day one. Young people learn by doing, alongside farmers, makers and coordinators who live and work in Haarlem, and then see the whole cycle through to harvest and sale.
Learn the land
Training started in the field. Young people learnt to read the soil, prepare beds and handle seed potatoes, guided by local farmers who know this valley season by season.
Bernard Borcherds and Lorraine Esau, farming specialists
Bring the water
Water is everything in the Langkloof. Participants measured, cut and joined irrigation lines with their own hands, gaining a skill they can use on any farm or smallholding.
Hands-on, side by side with experienced mentors
Grow in the nursery
In the shade-net tunnel, learners acquired knowledge of how to raise seedlings in bags and saw how a small nursery can become a business that can potentially supply the whole community.
Mark Hartnick, CEA entrepreneur
Plough and plant
With the tractor turning the ground, the group planted row after row by hand. It was hard, honest work, and they could see it adding up in front of them.
Clinton Thyssen, agriculture specialist
Skills beyond the field
Not every future is on a farm. In the workshop, young people learnt pattern cutting and machine sewing. Alongside that, they built digital and administrative skills on laptops, which help them run projects, apply for work and start small enterprises.
Sylvia Draai, seamstress par excellence · Tania Phillips, LAWW Managing Coordinator
Water, day and night
Once the seed was in the ground, the real commitment began. The group kept the sprinklers running and checked the lines, often well after dark, so the young crop never went thirsty.
Seeing growth
The bare rows filled with potato plants, and the sunflower field grew tall against the mountains. Week by week, the learners could see what their work had made.
The harvest
Families and learners lifted the potatoes together, then sorted and bagged them. The sunflowers were cut and their heads dried for seed.
Adding value, taking it to market
Sunflower seed was cleaned, weighed and packed into labelled bags. Together with potatoes, pumpkins, melons and sewn goods, it went on sale at Haarlem's first Sunflower Festival & Farmers' Market.
From bare ground to a harvest festival
The fields that young people prepared and planted produced a real harvest, and the community came together to celebrate it. Just as important, the learners now know they can do it again.
Planting dayHarvest time
The first Haarlem Sunflower Festival & Farmers' Market
The season ended with a celebration, the first of its kind in Haarlem. Learners and local growers sold potatoes, sunflower seed, pumpkins, melons and handmade goods to visitors and neighbours. It was the clearest sign yet that the programme works.
Real, practical skills
Soil preparation, irrigation, nursery work, planting, sewing and digital skills, all learnt by doing and taught by local experts.
A harvest to show for it
Potatoes lifted and bagged, sunflowers grown and seeded. The work produced food and products people wanted to buy.
From farm to market
A full cycle from seed to sale, ending at the first Sunflower Festival & Farmers' Market. The next step is to build on it before that momentum is lost.
The programme needs its founder on the ground
Theophilus founded Learning Academy Worldwide on a simple belief: collaborating for meaningful learning. He brings together the trainers, the community and the partners, and turns one good season into a lasting programme.
That work can't be done from a distance. To plan with local trainers, run the training and mentor the young people in person, Theophilus has to travel to South Africa and stay for the length of the programme. Without the funds for that journey, the next programme can't happen.
A clear budget of €8,800
Every line is needed to get the founder to Haarlem and to deliver the training once he is there.
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Return flights to South Africa Economy travel for the founder | €1,400 |
| In-country transport Vehicle hire and fuel, Cape Town to the Langkloof and between sites | €900 |
| Accommodation and subsistence Lodging and meals for the duration of the programme | €1,500 |
| Training materials Seed, irrigation fittings, tools, fabric and workshop supplies | €1,800 |
| Local trainer support Stipends for community farming, sewing and enterprise trainers | €1,200 |
| Learner meals and workshop days Food for participants on training days | €600 |
| Student stipends Stipends so young people can take part in the training and season | €1,400 |
| Total needed | €8,800 |
What your gift can do
- €25buys irrigation fittings for a learner's practice line
- €50feeds a group of learners for a training day
- €100covers a week of fuel between Cape Town and Haarlem
- €250supports a local trainer for a block of sessions
- €500pays for seed and supplies for a full planting
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Questions, or would you like to sponsor a whole budget line? Contact us at admin@learningacademyworldwide.org.za.