Just over a decade ago, a group of youth started bravely canoeing through the wetlands of Khayelitsha, cleaning it as they went along by removing some of the most unimaginable trash, from baby nappies to car tyres. The Khayelitsha Canoe Club’s initiative was an enormous success, but little did they know that an even greater threat lurked ahead – water hyacinths.
Considered the world's worst aquatic plant, the invasive species rapidly proliferates and forms a thick layer over waterways, choking the life out of the environment by preventing other aquatic plants below from receiving nutrients and depleting oxygen in water that fish depend on. The weed is also a hazard to human health, as it hosts mosquitos that carry infectious diseases.
Having fought so hard to create a vital recreational space in the township, Sibongile Mtikitiki and the rest of the canoeists were not about to be deterred. Initially, they spent hours extracting the water hyacinth and throwing it on the side of the wetlands. But upon further research, they realised they could dry the weed and burn it to create biochar, an organic fertiliser that has the potential to keep gardens green and healthy when correctly used.
While the Sibongile and the group work as volunteers with no payment for their environmental efforts, the enterprising team have begun making and selling their biochar to local gardeners and schools, and also inviting tourists to join in on their wetland cleanups and take home biochar as a souvenir.
Together, they’re taking a weed that once choked the social and environmental development of Khayelitsha and turning it into a solution that brings life back into the community.
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