Drawing Up Plans

Setting

The scene takes place in the WaSH facility in Mandela Park, and the adjacent storage bungalow. The day is overcast, but not rainy, and neither particularly warm or particularly cold. The construction on the water pipes has moved past the facility, so it is quiet again in our area, but the water has not yet returned to the facility. We hope to see the facility fully functioning soon!

Backstory

After a successful day of painting and physical progress on Friday, we entered the week hopeful to continue pushing forward and begin working on some more abstract parts of our project. Monday was slightly disheartening when few community members showed up to work, so, though we remain hopeful that we will have our co-researchers today, we plan for the worst, and decide to leave two members at the lodge to do some research and writing. Mollie and Heather decide to go into Langrug while Danielle and Nathan stay back to do more technical work.

Cast of Characters

• 2 Members of the WaSH-Serv Team (Mollie, Heather)
• 2 Members of the WaSH-Biz Team (Kostas, Reed)
• Sizwe, the sponsor liaison from CORC
• Co-researchers (Amanda, Amanda 2, Nomahala, Siyanda, Mama Poto, Mama Thandi, Noloyiso, Khungeka, Zodwa)

Scene

The van pulls up and both the WaSH-Biz team and we are excited to see that the facility has many people inside waiting for us, as opposed to the four yesterday. We enter with Sizwe and he has a brief conversation with the women there in Xhosa. He explains afterwards that they discussed the women’s jobs up at the construction site in Zwelitsha, which no longer exist. They were replaced with other workers so they could spend more time working with us. We are shocked by how quickly they were replaced and concerned for what they will do when we are not working with them anymore. Although worried for the ladies, we are also excited that we will now have a dedicated working group everyday.

The Logistics of the Stipend

As per Sizwe, Scott, and Steve’s request, we discuss more about the stipend, as well as weekly reports and daily sign-ins. The stipend this year is being given as a lump sum to the Savings Group, and as such is being divided equally among the workers at a daily rate. To do this, we needed to make a definite list of the working group so we would know how much each person could be paid. Originally, the group was only supposed to be eight members, but with nine people there and ready to work, everyone decided to expand the working group to nine, despite meaning less money earned.

We then move on to talking about reports, which CORC needs weekly to be able to distribute the stipend. We work together to make a report for the past two weeks, with Zodwa as secretary because she is secretary for the Savings Group, and plan to make one for this week on Friday. We originally say that the community members can write the report and we’ll type it for them, but they all say they want to type it themselves. They are really interested in working on computers and learning how to type better.  We decide to bring a laptop on Friday so they can work on it and take turns practicing their typing. Included in the report is the attendance for the week, so we explain that we’ll be bringing a sign-in sheet and everyone needs to sign-in if they want to get paid.

Aftercare Operations Manual- Beginning Stages

After that we split from WaSH-Biz and move to the storage bungalow to do WaSH-Serv work. We are working with Mama Thandi, Amanda 2, Siyanda, Noloyiso, and Nomahala. We begin creating an operations manual for the aftercare programme. When talking about the specifics of the programme, the women are eager to speak up and contribute their ideas. We discuss aspects of the aftercare such as working hours, the registration process, general rules for children, and sign in and sign out policies. We accomplish a lot and everyone is feeling very happy, though we are not able to work too long because people get tired near the end of the discussion.

Operations for the Aftercare

A Picture’s Worth a Thousand Words

We take a quick break and come back to work on the designs for the walls.

Painting Plans

By taking turns drawing instead of just talking, we get a lot more work done and everyone participates by drawing different hand-washing pictures, pictures of leaders in South Africa, or writing “Wash your hands every time” in Xhosa. We also joke around and draw funny pictures of each other. Sizwe comes in and shows us how well he can draw by creating a portrait of Noloyiso. We are all extremely impressed and laugh when we draws a beard on her as the final touch to this masterpiece!

Siyanda Drawing

Throughout the whole day, we did not once struggle with convincing the community members to speak English; they were very enthusiastic to contribute their ideas to the whole discussion and participated without being coaxed.

Birthday Shenanigans

We finish the day in the main WaSH facility, singing “Happy Birthday” to Siyanda who turned 35 on Sunday. We also learn from Sizwe that traditionally water gets poured on the person whose birthday it is after watching him chase Siyanda around the facility with Mollie’s water bottle. We are not sure how much to believe him, because he was very quick to point out we could not do it retroactively for his birthday, but we have fun watching the two of them joke around with one another. After the short celebration, we pack up our things and head home for the day.

Siyanda is Happy

Reflection

After the less than stellar attendance from yesterday, the team was worried that we would lack community participation today also and prepared for the worst. Instead, we had a great showing and were able to accomplish a lot. Everyone seems very enthusiastic, both about the aftercare programme and about the continued renovations to the facility. The energy from the women makes us hopeful that our project will have a continued effect on the community, even after we leave! We are a little nervous that the project end is approaching so quickly but we are pushing on at a steady pace and are confident that we can finish our project!

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