A WOMAN police officer in Nomandien, outside Newcastle in northern KwaZulu-Natal, has combined fighting crime with fighting poverty among her normal duties in the community.

Constable Thoko Nyathikazi is working tirelessly to improve the image of her station and change the lives of people, especially children attending school on empty stomachs, with her vegetable garden project.

Nyathikazi has initiated a vegetable garden at the police station with the help of station head Captain Christo Paulsen to reverse the burden of poverty.

The gardening project is sponsored by a local farmer with watering equipment and fertiliser, while the agriculture department provides seeds.

Elderly citizens, orphans and schoolchildren from the four schools in the impoverished village are already benefiting from the project.

Scores of children no longer go to school on an empty stomach because of Nyathikazi's initiative. Some no longer carry lunch boxes since they can rely on fresh produce from the station. Pensioners and pupils take turns harvesting pumpkin, cabbage, beetroot and potatoes at the police station once a week.

Nyathikazi said: "Our station caters for a rural community with many farms, but many people are unemployed. I approached the department of agriculture to provide seeds."

She said her colleagues had helped her make the project a success.

"Warrant Officer Sipho Dlamini and general worker Bheki Dubazane use their spare time to take care of the garden," she said.

The project is in line with the government's policy of one home, one garden. But the Policewomen's Network converted this into one police station, one garden.

Residents on medication also receive vegetables from the station.