Environment
This committee meets every
The committee is chaired by
Other members of the committee are
This committee provides direction on the following areas of OBSID work:
Turning Observatory into a garden
Obslife, Apr 2010
THE more care is given, the more people will care. Gareth Leyman, chair of the OBSID's ecology committee, didn't start his public gardening activities around Obs with that belief, but it is certainly what the experience has taught him.
Leyman, an architect by training and a builder by trade, describes how he himself got caught up in the momentum. He had watched various attempts at beautifying the Pepper Square car park thirty metres from his home in Fairfield Road after it had been leased by the municipality to the Observatory Civic Association.
One day, he chucked a few nasturtium seeds he had collected from his garden through the fence and a few months later they flowered. He was hooked, and soon he was taking care of all the beds in the car park.
The more effort he put in, the more people gave. "I have received so much assistance," he says. Observatory residents bring him bunches of cuttings, bulbs, seeds and seedlings. Some even dig up knowledge, such as a piece of research that shows how planting trees in an area reduces crime.
Now he hopes that his OBSID ecology committee can use the momentum generated by the clean-up of Obs to spread the greening started in Pepper Square throughout the suburb, and create even more momentum.
Back to the roots
Obslife, Dec 2009
OBSID board member Edwin Angless jokes that he's been living in Obs since 1978 - with a 22-year break in Zimbabwe. He fled into exile in 1981 due to his anti-apartheid activities while studying economic history at UCT. But so powerful was his connection with Obs that returning six years ago was like coming back to his roots.
He found the suburb's vibrant social life still much the same, but says it has acquired a cosmopolitan character. On a typical daily walk to the Spar, he chats to acquaintances in Portuguese, French, Shona and Afrikaans. ''I get home and I realise that I haven't spoken a word of English,'' he says.
Angless's multilingualism developed through his work in the film industry throughout Africa. He has worked as production manager on the critically acclaimed Lumumba and Jerusalema, among others, and has made many documentaries. He is currently working on a documentary on rats trained to sniff out landmines in Mozambique's vast minefields.