Wine farm pilot project to be rolled out in the winelands

The ARA-Perdeberg Wine Project, launched in August 2011, was designed to address social issues such as alcohol abuse, foetal alcohol syndrome and labour concerns among the farm worker communities in this area.

"Issues impacting these farm worker communities have put producers under pressure to address these problems on a daily basis. There is also increased pressure on producers to facilitate career-orientated rather than task-orientated training. It is a complex problem with numerous factors directly influencing farm worker communities, such as illiteracy, poor health, poor self-esteem as well as increasing abuse of drugs and alcohol," said ARA spokesman Adrian Botha.

Getting producers and farm workers to understand the necessity of projects such as this one is more relevant now than ever, believes Santi Basson, the project co-ordinator. "With the recent strikes highlighting vast disparities in the region, we can see that this is a community of people that feel disenfranchised and are not satisfied with their current living conditions. The ARA-Perdeberg Wine Project has truly helped us to identify the needs of these communities and pinpoint areas where they require support. With the buy-in of the producers, together we have been able to create something sustainable for the workers and improve their living standards on a day-to-day basis."

The project, which will be carried out over a five-year period, will help alleviate the many issues faced by these communities. So far, farm workers have attended information sessions to help their understanding of labour laws, as this is often applied according to their own interpretation.

Intervention programmes

Intervention programmes, including HIV/AIDS, personal hygiene, diabetes, hypertension awareness, foetal alcohol syndrome and alcohol abuse have been put into action. Independent social workers have conducted responsible parenthood interventions as well as first aid level one and occupational health and safety training programmes.

In January 2012, the aftercare facilities for the children of these farm workers were upgraded and addressed administrative requirements for registration at the Department of Social Services, such as personal files for children, work plans and menus. Producers are also assisted regarding legal requirements, such as displaying labour laws, farm policies and work contracts within these facilities.

"We aim to implement a similar programme from May 2013 at a cellar selected from the Robertson wine valley," said Botha. "The project leader and social worker will start writing the guidelines in February and aim to complete it by end of March 2013."

Other programmes that the project hopes to implement over the five-year project period include:

• ABET or adult basic education.
  
• Help with financial management of the earnings and expenditures.
  
• Life skills and work skills training.
  
• Health facilities, such as clinics close to the farms.
  
• Transport for adults to access health care and for children to attend school.
  
• Recreation activities for members, especially over weekends to prevent binge drinking.
  
• Identify building(s) that could be used as community centre by the farm worker community for meetings and other activities.
  
• Bursaries and financial aid to promising learners.
  
• The establishment of a youth club, women's club and sports club where workers and their families can participate in crafts, hobbies and other interests.