Our Last Day in Litha Park

            This past Friday we hit a huge milestone in our studio project- our final site visit to Litha Park and our presentation to the community. The day was very bittersweet- so sad that it was our last time in the community and working with those wonderful people, but so great to be able to present to them a project that I really feel good about. Hopefully the community liked our suggestions and will look into implementing some of them in the future. Now that our presentation here is done, we will go back to the US, spend roughly 6 weeks writing up a formal report and doing further research and will then send the report back here for the community and CORC, our partner NGO here, to use. Ideally this report will provide them with background information as well as detailed steps for each of our recommendations so that this report is a catalyst for them to start making some positive changes.

            Our presentation went a bit long and started an hour and a half later than it was supposed to (Africa time is a real thing, folks. No one is ever anywhere on time) but it was a hit. We had ordered food for roughly 50 people as a thank you for their hard work in meeting with us and to encourage attendants. The meeting was held in the Litha Park Church, and although when we started the room was only half full there ended up being over 100 people in attendance, including 30 adorable young kids. The food flew and people were left wanting more, but we never in a million years imagined the turnout we would get. Because most of the community speaks Xhosa, we had everything translated for them and it seemed like they were receiving the information well with lots of nods and claps after particularly good ideas. Below are some pictures from Friday’s presentation.

Check out that tunic- got it made by a local seamstress in town as my gift to me. I'm absolutely in love with it. 

Our full house

I found a model...

...and a gentleman who wore a tux to the event.  

This isn't a great picture of much, but I think it does a good job of showing two things. 1) The size of the community church- the largest building in Litha Park. My guess is 4 shacks would fit in the church. 2) The condition of shacks here. Walls are a hodge podge of collected materials, one or two lightbulbs and roofs and floors made up of scrap material. You can sort of see some of the holes in the roof, and to answer your question, yes it leaks. I've been in the church many times during storms and it's not pleasant in the slightest. 

My African mamas! Phezuma, in the middle, immediately took Mandi and I under her wing, telling everybody else in the village that they'll need to find their own American because we were her kids for the month. 

 If you’re not interested in urban planning, you can stop reading now; I’ll take no offense, but for those who want to know more about our work here, here’s a breakdown. We broke down our work into 4 sections: crime (which plays a role in everything we do), fire safety, children’s play/open space, and economic development.

Crime

Crime is a huge issue in informal settlements. Our community is very chaotic physically- no roads or streets, no outside lights, so walking, especially at night is dangerous. There are tiny spaces between each of the shacks so criminals will hide there and then jump out to mug someone. The biggest crimes are muggings/theft and rape. Residents told us that often times criminals will wait on the main road (where people get dropped off and also where the toilets are), will pick their prey and then follow them into Litha Park. Once inside, they’ll commit their crime and can easily flee as the inside of the settlement is more or less a maize.

Our crime related recommendations include:

•  The formation of a mandatory, nightly community watch program;
•   Application for city of Cape Town funded flood lights to be installed, but placing lights on the exterior of shacks in the mean time;
•   Closing off the gaps between shacks. If some of these dead-end, unnecessary gaps are closed either by fencing or plants, it eliminates dangerous areas where people can lurk and creates a travel corridor. If people are forced to use these newly created pathways to get around, there will be more eyes on the street, and thus safer.

Fire

Due to poor electricity and negligence, fires are common in Litha Park. Most fires end up happening because some one cooks while intoxicated, falls asleep and their stove catches on fire. There are no fire detectors and no warning system to tell others that a fire has started. Residents eventually see smoke, call the fire department and yell to let others know. To fight fires, residents must take jugs to the taps located along the outside of the community and carry it back in an assembly line style in order to get water to the source. Additionally, because there are no roads in the community, fire trucks must stay on the outside- they can’t come in. This spells trouble for a fire on the center of Litha Park.

Our fire recommendations include:

•       Installation of the Khusella Early Warning System- it’s a fire detector made especially for settlements that warns neighboring units if a fire breaks out. It’s only 85 rand per unit (roughly $8), so very realistic for the residents to do
•       Purchasing of hoses/fire extinguishers for the community to use when fighting fires
•       Creation of evacuation plans & organization plans for what to do when a fire happens, who calls the fire department, who fights the fire, etc.

Children’s Play/Open Space

Space is at a premium in Litha Park, so there are no playgrounds or open spaces. There is a community “church” which is just an open room that is often used for community meetings, events and such but that’s it. Children go to play in a playground a few settlements over- a problem for the parents who want to watch their kids when they’re playing.

Our open/kids space recommendations include:

• Buy up vacant shacks and repurpose them. There are currently a few empty shacks, so the community should collect funds to buy the shack. The shack can then be used for a child care center, a community place or be torn down so there is a park within the community. 
• Argue for a park and community center inside the community if reblocking were to occur.

Economic Development

Over 60% of adults in Litha Park are unemployed. Of those who don't formally hold work, many have skills they can implement as a source of income, but lack the startup funds necessary to say, buy beads to make bracelets or buy fabric to sew. Additionally, one of the biggest concerns from community elders is that kids will finish school without any technical skills, so young people have very few job prospects. 

Our economic development recommendations include: 

• Creation of a Litha Park co-op. This co-op would be bought into by interested parties and would work together to share skills, materials and marketing opportunities. Co-op members could travel together to go to local markets or tourist destinations to sell their goods. The co-op could also buy a vacant shack and turn it into a workshop for Litha Park artisans. 
• Planting of vertical gardens. These gardens can be put in between shacks to cut off through access (see crime) and could also provide easy income to residents. 
• Creation of a community market where both community members and guests can come to buy, sell and trade their products. 

In a very brief nutshell, that was what we've spent the last 4 weeks doing. There's still a lot left to detail, but I'm proud of the list we've established and the community's reception to our recommendations. I've absolutely loved the work I've been doing here. Initially, when I entered graduate school I wanted to be a social planner, but learning more about physical planning and a less than favorable social planning class I had switched my emphasis. This experience has been the perfect blend of the two for me- lots of going out into the community, meeting with people and helping them solve their problems but then also the analytical and spatial side that I like so much. I really couldn't have asked for a better research project.

Muizenberg & Kirstenbosch

Muizenberg is a quaint little beach town, roughly 45-minutes from the heart of Cape Town via a train. It lays along False Bay- the western part of the cape. Many of Cape Town’s beaches are world renowned, and despite the colder weather, I’ve wanted to set foot on one since I got into town. With only 48 hours left before I leave South Africa for Zimbabwe, we picked yesterday as the day. Muizenberg is most known as a surfer enclave. Many of the people in our house had gone there many times to do just that, and even today, overcast and around 60 the beach, more specifically, the water, was packed with adventure lovers decked out in neoprene wetsuits.

We only ended up staying for two and a half hours or so, but I was able to dip my toes into the Pacific and snapped some great photo opportunities. It was also my first time taking the train here, and it was interesting to see the city from a different angle. Since we’ve been working in the settlements we haven’t been blinded from the inequality in the area, but seeing town after town flash by on our way to Muizenberg gave insight to how nice some can be and how down beaten others are.

Yesterday we went to Kirstenbosch- one of the largest botanical gardens in the world- for lunch with Sidney and Cynthia before we had our farewell dinner with our housemates in the evening. Kirstenbosch is beautiful- right at the base of the mountains and a full days worth of trails, gardens and paths to explore. As per usual with Sidney and Cynthia lunch was both abundant and absolutely delicious. For dinner, about 20 of us came together to watch the France v. Nigeria game and enjoy one last group meal. It was wonderful spending more time with the housemates and also a great opportunity for some of our friends from work to come together at once. For me, technically tomorrow, our housemates Mourits’s birthday, will be my last dinner in Cape Town, but with 3 of us heading out tomorrow, yesterday was the big group dinner.

One thing I haven’t mentioned much is life at the lodge, and it’s great; I’m so bummed to be leaving. The physical building itself is fine, but its located in a great little suburb called Observatory. Obs for short, the town has an adorable main street with tons of bars and restaurants. Due to its proximity to the University of Cape Town, it’s a young area with lots of international students. Our house is a prime example of that. Currently there are 16 students, mostly medical students, living in the lodge. Right now, including our group, there are 4 Americans, 1 Chinese, 1 Taiwanese, 1 French, 2 Germans, 1 Italian and 6 Dutch in the house. People are constantly coming and going in the house, some here for as short as 4 weeks, like us, others staying 6 months. Everyone is friendly, helps one another out with Cape Town advice and knowledge and is a ton of fun to be around. Almost nightly our little family comes together to watch TV, play games or just talk about our days. It has been great to share this experience with some other and made some great friends along the way.

On Tuesday Chris, Yijing and Yung-Ting depart, some for home, others for Jo-burg, and Wednesday morning Mandi and I head to Zimbabwe. We should get to Victoria Falls in the early afternoon and have the night there before we leave for our weeklong safari starting Thursday! I’m so excited for part two of this adventure, but so very sad to be leaving Cape Town.  

Lion's Head

Last week Chris, Mandi and I did a Cape Town must do and hiked one of the three main mountains. Our roommates did the big one, Table Mountain last Saturday, and heading that it was an 8-hour adventure we opted to hike the much smaller Lion’s Head instead. The weather couldn’t have been more perfect.

Lions head is very, very vertical, so you can’t go directly up the mountain. Instead, you wrap around it multiple times, slowly gaining altitude as you go. Also because of its steepness, it has a variety of different terrains/ways to hike. The base is a gradual uphill on a dirt path, then the majority of it is a rock scramble. In addition of the scramble, there are some sections where you have to climb implanted ladder or hoist yourself up chains that are placed into the rock. After a 1 ½ - 2 hour upward hike we reached the very small top before doing the one hour hike downwards. Being the easiest of the big three hikes plus a great view from the top made it an excellent morning adventure.

The following pictures are Mandi's she took of me on our mountaintop photoshoot. I take no credit for the photos, but all the credit for being the best model. 

Table Mountain

Long time, no post. The internet has been out at the lodge (a very contentious issue) so I haven't been able to really blog or go on social media for the past week or so. Any time that we do get internet is from going down to cafes and coffee shops, and with that time being precious it's been spent working on project research.

Our project has been moving along quite quickly, and it's difficult to believe that in just three short days we'll be meeting with the residents of Litha Park for the final time and presenting them with our final ideas and recommendations. There have definitely been some ups and downs to the project. To put it gently, living, working and playing in the same space, with the same people is trying. We all want the best for this community, but disagreements have ensued about what the "best" is and how to go about it. With no separation between work and home, there have been a couple of times where as a group we've needed to decide to take a two hour break where we all go off and do different things in different directions to cool off and recompose ourselves. Definitely not one of our brightest moments as a group, but it happens and we're working through it, getting more and more in sync every day. 

We're finally starting to see some nice weather in Cape Town. As I've probably mentioned earlier, the weather when we got here started off as cold, rainy, and awfully dreadful. With a few isolated exceptions the weather the past week and a half or so has been beautiful- sunny and 75. Today was the hottest it's been since I've been here- 82 degree. I would like to take this time to remind you that it is officially the dead of winter here. That is all. 

Taking advantage of the gorgeous weather and our incredible scenery, the five of us took a day last week to go up on top of Table Mountain. Table Mountain is arguably the most notable landmark in all of Cape Town with its staggering height and flat top. It is one of the New 7 Wonders of Nature. The top of the mountain is a roughly 3 kilometer plateau, and is home to insane amounts of flora, fauna and wildlife. The mountain is nearly 3/4 of a mile tall at its peak and is the tallest of the 4 main mountains in the heart of Cape Town. There are two ways to get up: hike or cable car. We were seriously tempted to hike, but on a time constraint (our housemates hiked it and it took 6 hours), we opted for the cable car. 

The view from the top is absolutely stunning. It's difficult to describe with words, but it's breathtaking. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves, but disclaimer: the pictures in no way capture even a smidgeon of what its actually like on top of the mountain. 

The view of Cape Town from the bottom of the mountain, where you get onto the cable car to go up. 

The view from the cable car, halfway up the mountain. 

A dussie! Dussies are indigenous creatures to Cape Town and the top of Table Mountain. While they look sort of like prairie dogs, in reality their closest related being is the African elephant. They're quite used to people at the mountain and will get really close when offered a snack. 

This mountain is Lion's Head, located immediately adjacent to Table Mountain. We actually hiked up to the tippy top this past Sunday. I'll post more information about that and pictures in my next post. 

The Long Walk to Freedom

The past couple of days have been beautiful here in Cape Town, and we've had a lull in our work where were able to have Sunday, Monday and Tuesday off, so we've been playing tourist and seeing some of the sights. Last week we tried to go to Table Mountain, but for some reason, it was closed, so we decided to wander into a little neighborhood called Bo-Kaap instead. I didn't know what to expect, other than that it is a colorful, picturesque area, but it certainly held up to that reputation. We started with the museum which was absolutely god awful. The only thing I learned from it was that Bo-Kaap is a Muslim area of town. The rest of the museum jumped around between different decades an topics- a wall about slavery in Cape Town, a room full of 18th century pots, and a Carnivale costume? It incredibly was weird, but we enjoyed our stroll through the streets. 

On our off day last Monday we decided to go see one of the top items on my Cape Town to do list: Robben Island. Robben Island is most notoriously known as the location where Nelson Mandela spent the majority of his imprisoned years (18/27 years) during Apartheid. A slightly lesser known fact is that the two presidents after Mandela also served time on Robben Island as political prisoners.

The island is surprisingly large, roughly 5 kilometers square area, and our tour guide described that it would take the average person two hours to walk to perimeter.

Our guide also described the island’s most recent history as a prison to be half Alcatraz (with incredibly dangerous criminal prisoners) and the other to be hostage for political prisoners. Currently, the only tour guides on the island were once political prisoners themselves, so we got to meet and talk with a small piece of history while on our trip. Our tour guide, for example, was arrested as a youth for participating in a protest against the Apartheid regime. Because of his participation, simply standing in a row and chanting, he was arrested on charges of sabotage, terrorism, and incitement of violence. 

One of the Muslim mausoleum from the island's early days.  

The criminal section of the island. 

The leper graveyard. Before the island was home to a series of jails, it was a colony for lepers. They were exiled to the island to slow the spread and were housed in villages with appropriate medical facilities and staff also located on the island. 

The church that the lepers would attend. Medical staff had a separate place for worship as to limit exposure. 

The beautiful, albeit hazy, view of Table Mountain from Robben Island. 

The limestone quarry where Mandela, and other prisoners, worked. 

Located inside of the limestone quarry, this "monument" was laid after the prison had closed down and the island became a museum. Before opening to the public, the museum hosted a series of prisoners to come back, see the exhibits and walk through the halls where they were once imprisoned for things you and I wouldn't dare call a crime. When they got to the quarry, Mandela laid a stone down and others followed, as a memorial to those no longer living who also slaved away in the quarry.  

A baby springbok! They're basically antelope, but the springbok is the national animal of South Africa and it was so exciting to see my first one. It's crazy the amount of wildlife that we would consider exotic that you see roaming free on an almost daily basis.

Believe it or not, up until a few years ago there was a school on the island to serve those who lived on the island. This was the K-7 school where island children attended. A few short years ago it closed down because most of the kids on the island had moved up to secondary school, and with only 5 students registered, it wasn't worth the city's money to keep the school operating. Children must take the ferry to and from the mainland in order to attend school. Our tour guide didn't state this explicitly, but I imagine that many of them are home schooled instead, purely for logistical reasons.  

Mandela's solitary confinement cell. 

The political prison campus. 

Overall, the tour was both a sobering reminder of how very recent the Apartheid regime ruled and their outrageous charges, as well as an incredible interesting look a the 300 year history of this small island 12 kilometers off the coast of Cape Town.