Leanne on a community working together

I wrote about my internship placement in a previous blog entry, but it feels like years and years ago, and I have learned so much since then!  I have been interning at the Cape Town Community Housing Company. Specifically, I shadow James, the community organizer / social facilitator, who has been assigned to work with Morgen's Village, a low income, government subsidized development comprised of 671 houses. James started with CTCHC exactly one day after I did, so it has been interesting to watch the process from the beginning - how he got his bearings with the company, set up connections in the community and identified the key role players there.  Three women in particular stick out to me: Zelda, Mischka and Mashaba. They have started a beautiful garden along a formerly dismal, arid strip of land near the boundary of the village.  All three women are well liked and respected and were instrumental in recruiting volunteers for the project.  I admire them for taking the initiative to improve their community and taking responsibility for their surroundings in a way that other people from the area have not.

Last week marked the culmination of James' first big project with the community.  People living in the first phase of the village spoke about the problem of people cutting through a sandy area near the edge of a retention pond as a shortcut to the taxi rank.  The edge of the retention pond was eroding and the area was collecting trash.  The community identified that they would like to have a formal walkway in place there so that people would not need to trudge through the sand.  Having people walk in only one place would stop the erosion, and the area to the side could be beautified and used as a garden.  Additionally, the name "Morgen's Village" could be painted on the wall by the pathway, as it marks the entrance to the neighborhood.

James started gathering resources for the project two months ago.  He spoke with representatives from municipal government posts to try to find funding for the walkway, the painting project and the gardening.  Since the government's financial year ends in June, none of the departments were able to contribute any money.  One of the biggest issues was trying to secure a water connection along the side of the pond for the garden (the pond only has water in it during the winter), and trying to get dirt bins placed in the area.  In both cases, the roads department said that this was the responsibility of the parks department who said this was the responsibility of the solid waste department who said that the councilor should be able to provide the funding and so forth.

 Digging the tires into the ground to form the edges of the walkway

 In the end, James got donations of cool drink (soda) and chips from local sponsors, and a sign writer from the Quality Beverage Company was able to paint the wall.   Nearly fifty people came on Monday: school children (it was during their holiday), young men and other members of the community. Over the course of the week, all of the trash and brush was removed from the area, plants were put in along the wall, the wall was adorned with the name of the village, and two rows of tires were dug into the ground to provide a defined walkway.  The tires were painted to add aesthetic value to the area.  When the municipal government realized the effort that the community was putting forth, the solid waste department supplied them with gravel and a bulldozing crew to level the pathway and harden the surface. The pathway is now functional and the area looks so much nicer!  James did a wonderful job helping the community take charge of their area, and I can tell that they are eager to do similar projects in the future.  I am so happy to have been involved - and it was awesome to get to see the project through from start to finish!