Just letting you know, I do no handiwork.
I literally get paid to cook.
My name is Big Zuu,
British rapper, and award-winning TV chef.
Ah, it smells great.
Along with my best friends Tubsey and Hyder,
I've been invited to take part in Mandela Day.
Nelson Mandela is an international icon.
He spent his entire life fighting for freedom,
equality, and justice,
and brought an end to the Apartheid in South Africa.
Every year on Mandela's birthday, July 18th,
people in South Africa partake in an act of service
in their community inspired by his legacy.
Ndaba Mandela:
But it's really about getting involved,
getting dirty, putting on your gun boots,
putting on some gloves, and going out there.
Zuu:
will be taking Mandela Day global by joining forces
with the Nelson Mandela Foundation
and undertaking our own acts of service
in communities across the world.
Showtime.
Man: You tell me when you're ready for me, sir.
Thank you so much for doing this today, sir.
Ndaba Mandela:
grandson of Nelson Mandela.
It is important for people of all backgrounds
to get involved in Mandela Day, especially those from Gen Z.
And so we hope that people can do an act of service
by using their hands
or using their mind or using their resources
and going out there and reaching out to people
that you wouldn't usually reach out to in your normal daily life.
Zuu:
When he was in prison, he took up gardening
and would grow produce to feed his fellow inmates and prison guards.
Ndaba Mandela:
from the daily monolithic presence
that they had to deal with, the concrete prison.
But this garden I believe they were able to gain hope,
hope that one day they would come out,
hope that one day Apartheid would end,
and freedom would reign over all South Africans
who live in the country.
Nelson Mandela:
we planted things like tomatoes, chilies, onion.
The soil was not very good,
but I managed, you know, to produce some good harvest.
And during Sundays, I used to supply
the whole kitchen staff with vegetables.
Zuu:
me and my boys Tubsey and Hyder
are on our way to North London to help a local gardener
and her 18-year-old niece transform their community garden
through planting food and herbs.
I didn't grow up with a garden.
I never had a garden.
The first time I ever had a garden was when I moved in with these guys,
and my two gardener friends haven't done anything to inspire me.
I think creating a place that makes food for people
and is focused on giving back to the community is incredible.
I've always been about, you know, youth work and helping young people,
but this is more about having produce that people can use.
And I think that trying to give back at a young age just proves that,
you know, you don't have to be an older person
or be in a position of power to have an influence on the community.
You can be a young person and still make a change no matter how little,
and I think it's very empowering.
There are over 1,000 community gardens in the UK.
This one is run by volunteer Sandra,
who wants inspire a new generation of Black growers
by giving niece Taissa her very own patch of land.
- Hello. - Hey, what's happening?
- Hello, hello. - How you doing, okay?
- Nice to meet you. - Nice to meet you.
- What's good? - ( overlapping chatter )
- Hello, hello, hello. - So welcome to the Love Garden, guys.
- The Love Garden. - This is the garden of love.
- I'm feeling the love still. - Yes.
This is a space that's been created for the community to learn how to grow food,
to bring everyone together, hence why you see that mural there.
Everyone in it is looking gold because we're celebrating diversity.
And all the people on that wall, they're real people.
- Yeah? - Can you see someone there?
- Oh, yeah. - I can see it!
( overlapping chatter )
Yeah, yeah, yeah. We like that. We like that.
We love that.
Man: Camera speeds.
Winter:
was just another way that he expressed himself
and also took agency over his life.
And so to be able to control and grow and create the very things
that Nelson Mandela put in his own body
was also a form of activism and self-expression.
Man: Interview take two, A-mark.
Ty:
of Black and brown and indigenous peoples,
there was a deep connection to nature.
I think that a return to some of those best practices
from hundreds and thousands of years ago
would align us better in terms of health.
Only by revisiting the past can we secure the future.
( crew chatter )
Man: Okay, in your own time.
The connection between person and the land,
it's about life, it's about sustaining life.
But I think that aspect of just overseeing something
that you're pouring into
is an important part of our human experience.
And so often, especially in history,
we've been disconnected from that process.
Zuu:
than white people to have a garden,
which makes green spaces like this
vital for the community.
We've got this area now for Taissa to grow.
We have a couple of planters that we're gonna plant there with a trellis
so that the vegetables that you grow can climb up.
And then we have all this bit here as well.
- Okay. - Which we're gonna move
that bed over there next to the mural.
- Oh! - And it's gonna come over here
and it's gonna create three new beds.
- We're all doing that today? - Of course.
- Is that possible? - Absolutely.
Zuu: The crep situation is a little bit...
Really? You come to the garden wearing your creps?
Have you got wellies for us? You got wellies?
I've got some wellies, yeah?
- ( muttering ) - ( laughing )
- Tweedledee and Tweedledum. - Hello.
- Arabian chuckle brothers. - Yes?
- What are you all doing? - We are putting up the greenhouse.
- You want me to help? - Yes, please.
( muttering )
Ideally, you should be here 'cause you're taller.
Stop complaining about your height. You were blessed by God.
( muttering )
- Who's got the best form? - I'm gonna be so dead.
Just letting you know, I do no handiwork.
I literally get paid to cook.
There's mad snails here. But don't worry, it's fine.
Like the French, we're turning it into escargot.
Big strides, big strides, big strides.
I don't see much happening over here.
Come on, teamwork makes the dream work, guys.
I'm tired. I need a brew.
Taissa:
My mom's Portuguese and she's half-Angolan as well.
My family decided to leave Portugal because of financial problems.
She was a single mother, so she couldn't provide for me by herself.
So she moved to England where things were easier.
- Hey. - Hi, tia.
How you doing, baby?
It's important for me to support Taissa
because melanin-rich people,
we have always worked the land.
This is not new, right?
But our children are detached from this skillset
that has been passed down to us for generations.
So it's important to take our children
from the urban environment that they're in at the moment,
which is a little bit of a toxic environment, to say the least,
and bring them back into nature so that they can stabilize themselves
and balance themselves and breathe.
Ndaba Mandela:
not only in Africa but across the world.
And so it is important for us to teach young people
about gardening, about plants, about crops,
so we can become self-sufficient.
Nelson Mandela:
And when the tomatoes were ready,
the wardens would be very friendly
and come and get some tomatoes from the garden.
Zuu:
can improve a person's physical and mental health,
with those who garden every day reporting a 6.6%
improvement in well-being, and a 4.2% lower stress levels
than those who don't garden at all.
What do you think you get from growing?
What do you get from it in terms of,
like, spiritually, mentally?
- It's peaceful. - Mm.
It's very peaceful.
So I like doing it to keep my mind off things
of what's going on in the real world.
A little bit of a break from reality.
- Exactly. - You know what?
Cooking is my kind of break from reality.
I'm, like, stuck in cooking,
concentrating on-- you know what I mean?
- Yeah, yeah, yeah. - What's going on with the there?
It's not really coming out. What's going on?
I've never done this. I'm trying my hardest.
This root goes deep.
You like to cook and you like to eat,
but have you ever been interested in growing?
It's something I've become more interested in
the more I learn about food, herbs, all them things there.
So, I'm like, you know what? Maybe I need to grow my own.
We're not the only ones who have been drafted in
by Sandra to help Taissa today.
Paulette Henry is co-founder
of an organization called Black Rootz,
which aims to improve opportunities for Black people
in the world of horticulture.
- Paulette? - Yep.
Why don't we see more people of color doing things like this?
In terms of growing in this country,
the majority of the people who own the land are non-Black people.
But we just need to take into consideration that there are lots of reasons
- why we don't see a lot of Black people growing. - Of course, of course.
We have to get rid of, like, the stigma, one.
And then we have to be able to educate.
So as Black Rootz, we deliver workshops.
We're doing things at youth clubs,
helping children to understand where their food comes from
and how it grows.
Sometimes you look at this country
and think it's a bit backward
in terms of teaching children to grow.
- Yeah. - Because, you know,
there's loads of places in the world
where a lot of their curriculum
is about growing their own food
and understanding nature.
Zuu:
that had a garden, so, for me,
I wasn't involved in any growing.
I might've done a little bit
in primary school for one day,
but I feel like I've learned more here
than I have the past 10, 15 years about growing stuff.
Lavinya:
that this generation holds onto
and also learns the principles
that Nelson Mandela believed in.
Nomalanga:
a good man plants a tree
that he knows he'll never
sit in the shade of.
So you're kind of doing something
for the future generations
knowing that you probably won't be around
to reap the rewards of that.
Fayida:
to spread the message, to talk about social causes that we believe in,
and to have our voices heard
to teach people, to inform people.
And I think if Gen Z can harness those tools
and use them responsibly,
then they can do so much good in this world.
So we have tomatoes, sweet peppers, and aubergine.
They're all the same family, so they need to kind of be planted together.
- Together, yeah. - Yeah.
- Taissa, how you feeling? - I'm confident.
- I've done this before, tia. - Sorry. Yeah, you're confident.
- This is normal for you? Aww. - I've got the best teacher.
We should have a plant war. See who can do it the fastest.
We're moving. I've done three in the time you've done, what, two?
I'm planting now.
I ain't talking about fried bananas.
I'm planting.
( muted chatter, laughter )
Nelson Mandela:
to give service in their own way, I thank you.
We each, every one of us,
can make an imprint.
- Young Tai. - Wagwan.
Wagwan. This is your garden.
Are you feeling the love right now?
I am feeling the love.
We're very proud of you, but are you proud of us?
- I am! Look at this. - It's all right.
Zuu: It's all right. I don't wanna lie.
I feel like we've done a good thing for the community today,
you know, following in Nelson Mandela's steps.
I feel great. And you know what he once said?
A winner is a dreamer that never gives up.
Aw, you got balls.
So to say thank you to you guys,
we've got a little barbeque in the back.
I've definitely been inspired by Taissa and Sandra,
and hope others will be, too.
I urge everyone to go out into their communities
and do their own acts of service, big or small.
So get out there and get involved.
Ndaba Mandela:
"If you want to go fast, you go alone.
But if you wanna go far, you go together."
So together we will be able to achieve anything.