Act 1 Scene 5

A Scattered Day

Setting

Because it is rainy and quite cold, we hold our meeting in the WaSH Facility storage bungalow before moving into the facility to assess the caretaker’s office for kiosk space.

Nathan does his research at the lodge while Danielle heads to the café Shift to do research.

Backstory

Our group decided to split up into two groups this day, a research group and a community group. Heather and Mollie headed into Langrug to participate and watch the Savings Group meeting being facilitated by the WaSH-Biz group, while Nathan and Danielle stayed back at the lodge to do valuable research on afterschool programmes and playground ideas.

Cast of Characters

Scene

We all huddle in the storage bungalow as we wait for everyone to arrive. It is cold and wet in Langrug, so construction on the water pipes has come to halt for the day. The huge bulldozer being used is parked in front of the facility making everything much muddier. Within a couple minutes, everyone attending the meeting has reached the storage bungalow and WaSH Biz begins their Savings Group meeting.

Only four of the six members of the existing Savings Group are present at the meeting: Kholeka, Zodwa, Amanda, and Mama Poto. Other members of the working group who are not in the Savings Group, such as Siyanda and Nolusindiso, are there as well. Reed and Sizwe are at the front of the room with large paper leading the meeting. Sizwe quickly makes an exit, explaining that he wants our group to feel more comfortable talking to each other without him as a translator. He encourages the community members to use English, considering most of them are able to speak English quite well.

Once he leaves, the dynamic in the room changes. People still seem slightly on edge, but are looking to answer questions and talk with the WaSH Biz group. Reed asks another question and immediately the community members look to Amanda for translation. She backs away and tells everyone she wants other people to talk. After minutes of a conversation in Xhosa, Nicole finally speaks up. She asks why the group is afraid to speak English to them, especially when many of them have spoken English in the past, like Zodwa and Kholeka. There is no response from the group, other than a couple glances and shrugs.

Luckily Sizwe is waiting outside and comes in to dispel the tension and awkwardness. Throughout the meeting, the WaSH Biz group talks about the purpose, dream, and expansion of the Savings Group. Many members of the community continue to talk in Xhosa, but Sizwe continues to translate for us. There is a clear tension between Siyanda and Amanda, reinforced by Kholeka and Zodwa. After the meeting is over we realize the tension probably stems from the fact that Siyanda was rejected from the Savings Group in the past and must have negative feelings toward it.

The meeting continues, although the topics are not exactly relevant to our group goals. We realize we will have to keep community dynamics in mind, considering they cause a lot of tension between our project groups. The one topic that overlaps with ours is a discussion about the kiosk items, which most people are excited to talk about and are able to work together for. There are some funny laughs over a misunderstanding that Band-Aids and plasters are the same item. Also, Reed and Kostas need an extra moment to realize what we mean when we say pads for feminine hygiene and that also causes some laughter.

We all settle down to lunch together, talking about a variety of personal topics. The anger and aggressiveness from the last two hours seem to have decreased and we all enjoy our time together. We finish our day evaluating the caretaker office for kiosk space before heading back to the lodge!

Nathan researches playground ideas and how to construct such items as swings and teeter totters. At our group meeting back at the lodge, he presents an informal packet of ideas, materials, and ideas for all the research he has done.

Danielle researches how after school care programmes are run. She finds what is required for the programme to be recognised by the government and finds a lot of valuable information on the logistical aspect of programmes, such as book keeping information, organisation of students’ contact information, and important handling of children’s’ emergency and medical information.

Reflection

Mollie and Heather, as well as the WaSH Biz group, became extremely aware of the community dynamics during the Savings Group meeting. It is clear that the subjects of money, personal savings, and community savings are very touchy and create a tense atmosphere. We agree that Siyanda should probably be more involved with the Services group seeing as the Savings Group was less willing to speak with her around. It was interesting to observe lunch after the meeting as well. All the women seemed comfortable and were talking to each other. It was just discussing issues of money and the Savings Group that caused the issues.

It was eye opening to realize how much community dynamics play a role in the success of our project and we hope that from now on there will not be as much tension.

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