Where Rainbows Meet — A Journey Through Hope, Unity, and Community Empowerment in South Africa's First Settlement

There is always sunshine, Where Rainbows Meet.

In February 2023, our founder Chad Cupido reached out to Where Rainbows Meet with an idea: to develop a soil business model using their community garden. When Chad and Codi first walked the ground, they were shocked at the state of the soil — compacted, depleted, and far from the living earth a garden needs.

A Memorandum of Understanding between the Dr. Philafel Foundation — through its Gro-a-Garden initiative — and Where Rainbows Meet set the transformation in motion. Working alongside Kyle Cupido and Where Rainbows Meet founder Mymoena Scholtz, the team turned to compost: transforming what the settlement discarded into the soil that would feed it.

By March 2023, the garden had been transformed into a thriving oasis. Donations poured in — wood chips, hemp bags, and a full herbal garden gifted by Herbal Healers Farmacy — and dozens of volunteers gave their hands and their weekends to make it happen.

Vrygrond, home to roughly 40,000 people, is one of South Africa's oldest informal settlements — a community that includes asylum seekers from Malawi, the DRC, and other African regions. The garden is one green, growing answer to the question of what a community can build together.