This YouTuber uses the internet to teach young people about farming

From the village of Willowvale in the Eastern Cape, we meet Onezwa Mbola who teaches young people how to forage for food in the wild. With recession hitting many countries, foraging could come in handy especially for people who live near the sea where mussels and other seafood could be found. In her TikTok and YouTube videos, Mbola, who is a professional chef and a food entrepreneur, shows people how they can forage and prepare meals for their families. The former Marine Navigator, who got into the field because of her love for travelling and desire to see other cultures, teaches people through social media how to search for food. She told True Love magazine that the love for food runs in her family, but for her, it only began after her mother’s passing because it became a way for her to reconnect with her by recreating the dishes, she would make for her.

“Food has always been a family thing. Even farming, lifestyle farming, you know. Everything for us has just been centred around food because I come from a very big family with cousins and we all lived under the same roof. So, production of food always at the forefront,” she said, adding that gardening can ensure everyone is well-fed.

She recently started her own brand of handmade food products, which she says is inspired by her desire to give people who don’t have or can’t garden the chance to experience food as naturally as it can possibly be. “The essence of eMandulo is going back to a time when people shared whatever they had. Whatever you harvested, you would share with the people around,” she explains. On what’s next for her, the YouTuber and entrepreneur says her biggest focus right now is ensuring that she provides eMandulo customers with quality products, and she hopes to take the brand globally and expand her product range.

“I’m also working extensively on my YouTube channel. I’m really trying to do this lifestyle vlogging but the village edition of it. So, I really want to focus on that because I feel like I still want to tell stories and rural stories, as authentically as possible so that people can see that this life is possible and it does exist,” she concludes.

Editor’s note: With recession hitting many countries, foraging could come in handy especially for people who live near the sea where mussels and other seafood could be found.

Description: Onezwa Mbola who teaches young people how to forage for food in the wild. Mbola, who is a professional chef and a food entrepreneur, shows people how they can forage
and prepare meals for their families.

Editor: Thato Mahlangu
Project manager: Do4SA