Act 4: Money- A Universal Problem to Overcome

Act IV: Scenes I-IV

Introduction:

This act focuses on the concepts of money issues that occur within an informal settlement as well as the different culture of business and work in general that exist between America and Langrug.

Scene I: A Different Conversation

Backstory:

Many of the community members who work with the WPI project team electively give up paying jobs in order to participate in the project work. This leaves these community members without a source of income for a substantial amount of time. In order to compensate these people for their work and loss of income, WPI provides a stipend to be divided among the co-researchers who devote their time to the project centre. The following scene describes a problem that occurred with the dispersal of the stipend and that caused some tensions within the group.

Cast of Characters:

WPI WaSH-UP Business Operations team, Sidiniwe Savings Group, Trevor, Scott Jiusto (project advisor)

Setting:

Langrug Informal Settlement; Mandela Park WaSH-UP facility

Scene:

When the group arrived in Langrug we began the day with our typical Monday morning meeting with all co-researchers, the project team and our project advisors. The meeting was going as usual, until Scott unexpectedly mentioned that there was a problem with the stipend and that the business team would have to sort out. After the meeting, the team got together to discuss our confusion. As far as we knew there weren’t any problems. So, the question on our minds was: what is going on?

After the group got settled our project team sat down with Scott and Trevor, a community leader whom we have had little contact with. Scott explained that there was a problem with the dispersal of the WPI stipend money. There were certain formalities that needed to be fulfilled before the money was given to the community members. This meant that the community members had not been paid for the two previous weeks of work. Understandably, the community members were upset about this lack of income.

The project team was not aware of this ongoing problem. In order to reach a solution, we held an open discussion with Trevor and Scott. In this discussion Trevor was able to express the concerns and needs of the community. Through this open meeting, the group was able to come to a consensus. To solve this problem, a schedule and sign in sheet would be drafted for the community members to sign in each day. Additionally, the money would be dispersed on an equal rate per day of work to the co-researchers. Should they be absent from work, the extra money would be placed in the community savings fund. This plan was to be implemented as soon as possible to transfer the money to the community members.

Reflection and Learning:

This discussion came about as a surprise to our project team. It was very frustrating for us to come in with a set plan for the day, only to be blind-sided by a huge underlying problem. If ever there were a day to exemplify how quickly a day in Cape Town can change, this would be it! Despite the frustration and difficulty of this conversation, our group understood that this was a fundamental problem that needed to be addressed in order for our project to move forward. This day was also a reminder to us of the constant struggle with money in the informal settlements. We were once again enlightened to the poverty in the community and the lifestyle of living paycheck to paycheck. We are hopeful that the sign in and report plan will ensure that the stipend is disbursed to the community members in a timely fashion to keep spirits high.

~

Scene II: Finding Solutions and Moving On

Backstory:

This scene directly follows and relates to Act IV Scene I. The goal of our group for this day was to complete a weekly report for CORC so that our co-researchers could receive a stipend for their work with us.

Cast of Characters:

WPI WaSH-UP Business Operations team, WaSH-UP Services team, Sizwe Mxobo, Khungeka, Zodwa, Nombathembu

Setting:

Langrug Informal Settlement; Mandela Park WaSH-UP facility

Scene:

On this day, half of our group stayed at the lodge to research while Reed and Kostas went to Langrug with a goal of concluding discussions regarding stipends and payments. Immediately after arriving on the scene, we were presented with new information. The ladies working with us had lost their jobs and positions because of their contributions to our project. This was shocking news for us and it caused a sense of discomfort to know that we contributed to their unemployment. The ladies seemed bothered by this until we decided to move on to discussions about the stipend. This conversation also began as an intense and somewhat uncomfortable situation for us but later ended as a success story.

Our original goal, as stated in Act IV – Scene I, was to guide the community towards determining a fair distribution of the stipend. We later found ourselves in a situation where we were determining their salary. Tuesday went much better as we were able to help them determine a set rate per day of work and then agreed that members would be paid for each full day of work. Reed and Kostas sat down with the community members and established a payroll system and helped with the mathematical calculations. We believe that this was a great learning and educational experience for the ladies. From this point forward, we would provide a template for their weekly reports but require that the secretary of the Savings Group (currently Zodwa) must write up the details for the reports. The details include who has worked, which days and which accomplishments the project group achieved.

Reflection and Learning:

Even though this was a stressful and worrisome day by many regards, we believe that it ended as a great success. In addition to all of the distractions, the group was able to continue on with discussions about the project and create diagrams to better communicate the operations of the savings group. They focused on the withdrawals and depositions of the bank account as well as the associated fees. Overall, we gathered ample information and resolved some major issues to allow our project to continue smoothly.

~

Scene III: Enough Talking, Time for Action

Backstory:

On Thursday, we quickly discovered that a full day of meetings would not be the most beneficial use of our time. The savings group members were visibly tired of sitting and talking, and a change of pace was needed. In order to keep interest in the project, we decided to instead focus on some of the physical renovations needed within the facility and in the storage shed.

Cast of Characters:

WaSH-UP Business Operations Team, WaSH-UP Services Team, Sidiniwe Savings Group, Sizwe Mxobo,

Setting:

Langrug Informal Settlement; Mandela Park WaSH-UP facility

Scene:

After working on some details of the Constitution for the savings group for close to an hour, it was evident that a change of pace was necessary. Our team quickly decided that this was the perfect time to break from the day’s activities by traveling to Build It®, located in the town of Franschhoek, to purchase building materials for the kiosk. In order to prepare and compile a list of items to buy, we first emptied out the storage shed to see if there were any materials we could salvage for the project. Our team and the women of the savings group spent almost the entire morning cleaning out the storage shed and sorting the materials based on what we could use, what we should save, and what could be thrown out. The women were extremely happy to see the progress, even blessing the ground of the building with water once it was empty, saying that this building would be the home of something positive and good. The gesture was one of humor and sincerity, and all the women laughed and cheered at the gesture.

After sorting everything that was once in the facility, we loaded everything back into the building and organized it. The women were so happy with the final result; there was easily twice as much space in the building as before. We were also able to pick out a good amount of wood and brackets to use for the shelving of the kiosk. Additionally, we were able to get rid of a lot of broken and dirty objects; Stephanie almost got trampled by a stampede of goats during one trip to the dumpster!

After putting everything back into the storage shed, we loaded up into the van, along with three community members, and two members of the WaSH Services Team. Once at Built It®, we selected paint colors for the inside and outside of the facility. The women picked a great light shade of blue for the outside, and we eventually decided it would also be great as the color for the inside of the kiosk room. Amanda, a member of the savings group, was particularly excited by the color, because she loves blue and was happy that the facility would soon have a bright and colorful exterior. We decided that we would paint the metal of the facility blue, and then have the children of the community put rainbow handprints on afterwards.

When we got back to Langrug, it was almost time for us to leave, so we all had a quick lunch together that we had picked up at Pick N Pay, and shared our excitement over the planned changes to the WaSH facility and storage shed.  When we left, we were excited to start the next day’s work, and happy with the positive attitudes of the community members.

Reflection and Learning:

This event was especially exciting for us, because it allowed us to see for one of the first times the real excitement the community members had for the project. This excitement had been seen previously when the constitution for the savings group was successfully drafted, but this was another, even better example of it. Just the simple act of cleaning out the storage shed caused the entire group of women to celebrate and sing. Even though the song was in Xhosa, you could almost understand that the song was about happiness and relief. It was exciting to know that what we did caused that happiness.

Picking out the paint was also exciting because it really made us all realize that this is happening. We’re actually improving this facility, building a kiosk, and making a business. Writing the constitution had a similar effect; we were able to see tangible results. As we selected the paint and picked out brushes, we all started to imagine what the facility would look like once it was painted, and we thought about the future success of the kiosk and the WaSH facility as a whole. It’s hard for us to always see that we are making huge changes, especially when the facility still isn’t operational due to the water main replacement, but we are. Our team, and the women of the savings group, are starting to see our work pay off, and we can’t wait to see where it goes from here!

~

Scene IV: A Change of Pace

Backstory:

Throughout this week, there had been many daily meetings about paper work and other logistical issues in the process of formalizing and filing proper paper work for the savings group to be recognized.  By Thursday, the entire savings group was extremely tired and becoming upset with the amount of talking that had been going on the past two weeks.  The team had also become fatigued with dealing with ironing out the small details over the last two weeks.  This fatigue paired with the variable language barrier that has reared its head in the last few days has taken a toll on everybody involved.  As our discussions wrapped up on Thursday, we decided it was time for another field trip to the store in order to decide on materials, paint, and other supplies that would be needed.

Cast of Characters:

WPI WaSH-UP Business Operations team, Sidiniwe Savings Group, Sizwe Mxobo

Setting:

Langrug Informal Settlement; Mandela Park WaSH-UP facility

Scene:

The group arrived in Langrug on Friday morning knowing this would not be a typical day.  The previous afternoon we had gone to the store in order to get supplies for painting as well as look at other supplies we may have needed.  In doing this, we saw the mood immediately lighten with all of the women.  When we arrived, we were greeted much more warmly and the ladies had some excitement about them.  The fact that the group was going to be doing physical activities and have tangible results from a day’s work was a huge morale boost.  When we got out of the bus, we immediately went to work.  We started out by taking measurements for the shelving in the office.  We took that and found some scrap wood that was in the storage space that would work extremely well.  Next, it was time to paint the office.  After going to the store the day before, we had a color that the ladies liked and were excited about.  While the painting was going on, we also fabricated the shelves out of the spare wood we found.

While all of this was going on, we had a group member sit in on a meeting between Trevor, Sizwe, our advisors, and a man from the municipality, Joey, which was helpful as it cleared up some important details for the group.  The main detail they addressed was that in order to get money from the municipality for the group or facility, they would need to file formally as a Co-op.  A beneficial aspect of this meeting was that we were provided with the documents that are needed which we will be addressing in the coming days.

Reflection and Learning:

Although this day was much different than a usual day in Langrug, it was as productive, in terms of morale, if not more productive than a normal day.  This day proved to be so effective because people can only work on paperwork for so long before people will become fatigued.  This day was an important lesson to the team that while we are used to having our noses held to the grindstone, in our academic lives most people do not operate that way.  This savings group does have the drive to get this completed but the WPI team has to adapt to the way people work here and work with that instead of keeping going with our system and expecting them to adapt.  It was an important lesson for the team and will guide our decision making and working processes in the future.