Act 1: Trial and Error
Introduction
It was the original goal of this team to facilitate the consolidation and upgrading of four informal settlements in Strandfontein – 7de Laan, Plot 9, City Mission, and Masincedane. In order to accomplish this, we were divided into two groups; one group focused on evaluating the infrastructure requirements of the upgrade, and the other on interacting with the community to determine their needs and ideas.
We spent our first two weeks working with the communities and our sponsors in the city government to determine what each group wanted from the project. To learn these wants, extensive interviewing, profiling of community members, evaluating and planning infrastructure opportunities and meetings with our various sponsors and city resources was undertaken. Our work in 7de Laan culminated in the community meeting to determine whether the project would move forward in 7de Laan, which ultimately was not the case.
__________________________________________________________________________________
Network Development
Meeting With Levona
This is the day we had all been waiting for. It was our first day on the job, and we finally got to meet our liaison, Levona. Levona talked to us about our safety and what to avoid while in the settlement. She then introduced us to guides who would be accompanying us to the settlements every day. This was our first interaction with our project once in Cape Town and was a very important meeting.
For the full scene click here
__________________________________________________________________________________
Meeting the Key Planners
This was the first day any of us got to meet Johan Gerber, the head engineer overseeing the Strandfontein upgrading project. We had a meeting with him and a couple other members from the informal settlements department in the Civic Centre in downtown Cape Town. We first presented to them our knowledge and the research we had done in A Term. We then shifted to different aspects about the project and what Johan expected of us throughout the seven weeks. This meeting gave us a clearer idea of the specifics of our project.
For the full scene click here
__________________________________________________________________________________
First Weekly Meeting Causes Confusion
We had set up weekly meetings with Levona and our advisers. This was the first one and we went into it feeling pretty strongly about where we stood with the project and therefore we were unsure how the time would be used. Levona’s take on the project, however, was very different than what we had understood earlier. We left the meeting somewhat confused about the state of our project, and began looking toward our upcoming meeting with the subcouncillor to clarify our project.
For the full scene click here
__________________________________________________________________________________
Subcouncil Meeting Eases Worries
This meeting was our first interaction with subcouncillor Felicity Purchase, who would be involved on the project. It was an important turning point in our project’s early weeks. Though we had been very unsure about what was expected of us, we were now on the same page as the municipality. We also left with a very good impression of the subcouncillor, who was the highest-ranking official we expected to work with. That allowed us to move forward much more confidently into our upcoming project plans.
For the full scene click here
__________________________________________________________________________________
Engineering the Future
The infrastructure team met with the City of Cape Town’s Informal Settlements Department to discuss the project. There were two planners and two engineers present at the meeting: Gugu, Lutz, Walleed, and Siraaj respectively. The department was able to share their goals for the project with us and we were able to give them some insight into our past research as well as our current progress. From this meeting we gained a clearer understanding of our project and the goals that were are expected to reach with the settlement.
For the full scene click here
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Ethiopian Experience
Paula Mora, a civil engineer living in Cape Town for two years had recently reached out to Scott about becoming involved in a civil engineering project with the WPI group. To give her an introduction to our projects we met with her at an Ethiopian restaurant to have dinner. Accompanying us were two members of the Water, Sanitation, and Health Team and Scott and Lorraine. From this meeting we gained an important resource for future use and look forward to giving her a tour of 7de Laan.
For the full scene click here
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Project Development
An Introduction to 7de Laan
This was our first experience in 7de Laan. It was both welcoming and spiritual. We were greeted by two women, Magdalene and Ana, then by a man who introduced himself as the community leader, Dion. Dion began to speak about the community with biblical quotes intertwined in every sentence. He spoke of his own experiences in 7de Laan and welcomed us with open arms into the settlement.
For the full scene click here
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Beginnings of Turmoil
One woman really stood out. Walking through the settlement, we came upon her shack, and she stood up and came to greet us. We discussed, with the assistance of our liaison Anneline in translation, her family, her house and her history. The conversation moved to education and then shifted to her true feelings about certain neighbors, the first time that someone had not emphasized the total unity of the community.
For the full scene click here
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Finding Hope
The second day in 7de Laan we approached a woman named Caroline, who brought us into her home and introduced us to her family. She opened up to us about the concerns she had for the community’s health due to drugs, sickness, and other dangers. She then spoke of her hope for establishing a community soup kitchen in 7de Laan, hopefully bringing a safe environment for the children to play near their parents. Caroline left a very strong impression with her leadership and inspirational personality.
For the full scene click here
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
A Motivation for our Work
Many people in this world have sad stories, but some of the ones we’ve heard in 7de Laan remind us why we are actually here in the first place. We talked to Jenny, Paul, Kathleen, and Felicia. Each had their own story and each one was very shocking. We observed that many of these residents not only have to live under poor conditions, but also have to face many challenges. Some of them have had to make many sacrifices in order to take care of their loved ones. The difficulties that these people had faced, and the hard work that they had done to overcome them, further motivated us to find ways to work with them.
For the full scene click here
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Red Hill Settlement Tour Highlights Opportunities
Our sponsors suggested that we visit a different settlement, Red Hill, to see the living conditions in another settlement. There were several specific things in Red Hill that could be done in 7de Laan, like growing more food and creating drainage systems, but the biggest thing to bring back was how the willingness of Red Hill’s residents to take initiative and make improvements themselves left them with much more livable conditions.
For the full scene click here
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
City Mission Visit Illuminates the Option of Reblocking
We visited City Mission, one of the settlements that the city would like to combine into 7de Laan, to get the community’s perspective on moving to 7de Laan for an upgrade. The people we talked to voiced concerns about the community, but also mentioned that they mostly felt safe, stable and content in City Mission. This was an important day in that we found reblocking in 7de Laan may be a good option to pursue and may entice some members of other communities to consolidate.
For the full scene click here
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
A Raw and Unexpected Story
Now that we had a more concrete idea of our project, we were excited to go back to 7de Laan and continue profiling the people and assets of the community. We visited a woman named Elizabeth, whom we had already talked to once before, to create a profile of her. While we began with only basic information, she eventually opened up and shared her very personal story with us. It was never expected to get such a raw story about her past but it was wonderful to see that she trust us enough to share such a private story.
For the full scene click here
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Shack Demolition
While we were completing a few profiles in 7de Laan, a group of security officers and construction workers entered the north side of the settlement. The group had come to demolish some shacks in the settlement. During the course of this event, an organized demolition shifted to a frenzied destruction. None of our municipal personnel knew the shacks were being destroyed – a misunderstanding, a disconnection, or a lack of communication clearly took place.
For the full scene click here
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Public Meeting in 7de Laan
This meeting was held to hear the community’s thoughts and concerns going forward with the planned improvement project in 7de Laan. During this meeting, community members were to gather to vote on whether or not the three communities, 7de Laan, City Mission, and Plot 9, wanted to participate in this project. Unfortunately, not enough members of the community showed up for a proper vote to occur, so our project group would begin work in a new settlement.
For the full scene click here
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Reflection
The first two weeks were certainly surprising. We had expected to integrate ourselves and our work into the community with relative ease. However, while they did accept our presence, they did not approve the project. This was largely due to the many complications we faced during our first two weeks on site.
The first issue was the fact that we did not have co-researchers to interact with, something that the project team was very dependent on. The co-researchers had to be elected by the community, but the meeting took nearly two weeks to schedule. That meant that most of the community integration plans could not be executed, being replaced instead by canvassing interviews of the entire settlement.
There was also little clarity on the scope of the project as defined by our sponsors. The original plan was to consolidate all four settlements into 7de Laan, with the expectation that reblocking could occur and improved shacks would be provided where needed. We were also told that consolidation was not required for the project – if people did not want to move, they would not be forced to do so. Information in later meetings contradicted these principles. It took until our meeting with the subcouncillor to determine the project’s scope and requirements. That lack of confidence made it much more difficult to do our work, since we could not adequately communicate the project specifics.
Despite these challenges, we were able to make good progress in the first two weeks. We successfully identified many of the needs and skills present in the community, and were able to map and evaluated the situation in 7de Laan before beginning to work with the city engineers.
Unfortunately, the community did eventually decide not to go forward with the project. There were a number of factors that contributed to this – there was no leadership structure present in the community, which made it more difficult for the community to mobilize for this project. There was also a strong desire for formal housing rather than upgraded shacks, which made people less willing to engage in the upgrading process. The housing issue was compounded by the upcoming local elections, which brought increased political activity to the communities.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Moving Forward
With our original project gone, we will have to focus on finding a new place to work. There were several potential locations, each in different stages of the upgrading or reblocking process. To determine where to go, our sponsors and ourselves will have to evaluate each settlement. One of the key considerations in this decision will be which projects relate to the two weeks we already spent in 7de Laan. While we will not be starting at square one, we will still have limited time to engage in the new settlement, wherever it may be.