About Our Project- UT Litha Park

We've finally been making some great progress with our project, and after the first week or so was essentially dead as far as our research goes, it feels great to be making some headway. In order to understand this post a little bit better, I suggest you read by post on informal settlements [here] first to better understand what exactly I'm talking about when I refer to settlements.

So within Khayelitsha, the settlement is broken down into a series of smaller sections, and sometimes, sections broken down even smaller. We've decided to study UT Litha Park- one of the two sections within UT. Here are some quick facts about Litha Park:

• Population: 1,439
• Number of shacks: 432
• Number of taps: 13 [1 tap for every 111 people]
• Number of toilets: 46 [1 toilet for every 31 people]
• Unemployment: 61%

Litha Park is fairly small, much smaller than UT Gardens which makes up the other half of the UT section. My estimation is that Litha Park is probably a 1/4 mile by a 1/4 mile or so, perhaps slightly smaller. I've been forgetting its as small as it is because there are simply so many people living there, and they're living in a maze arraignment, so it takes much longer to get from point A to point B than you'd imagine. 

Litha Park is faced with many of the same problems as nearly all settlements: crime, flooding, fire, unemployment and health epidemics. By settlement standards, Litha Park is pretty advanced. They have water, flush toilets and electricity, which is a world of difference from another settlement we met and considered working with. All the taps and toilets lie among the outside border of the settlement, so to get drinking or washing water, one push go back and forth form the taps with buckets. Another luxury of Litha Park is that it has a community church. The church is probably the size of my bedroom with one lightbulb and a very leaky roof, as we learned this morning, but it steps above what a lot of communities have. My settlements standards, Litha Park is luxurious. By American standards a campground would be a vacation. There is no such thing as heat or air conditioning in the settlements, so no relief from any of the elements. People have equated the weather here to that of San Fransisco, hot in the summers, but very cold and rainy in the winters. I'm actually shocked I haven't gotten sick yet because I've been spending numerous hours a day out in the rain meeting with the community. 

After many days of talking to the community leaders, our group has decided on 4 focus areas: crime, fire, unemployment and child's play. We've been spending our days going out to Litha Park and breaking into small groups with members of the community to hear what they have to say about these issues. We're hoping that our final product can be a list of suggestions for them to address these problems with some solutions that are relatively inexpensive quick fixes and others that are 20 years down the pipeline. We've also been going on a bunch of tours throughout Litha Park to point out various physical and spatial issues. Below are some pictures from one of our tours last week.

Shacks are made from a variety of materials, most commonly corrugated iron and wood. While some are painted for a more cohesive appearance, the majority are a hodge podge of different materials, colors and construction. 

Aside from the three or so main pathways that are much wider, this is about the average width of passageways in Litha Park. 

The rows of toilets on the exterior of the community. It was pointed out to us that the toilets are actually where a significant amount of crime happens because people will wait across the street, watch you go in, and then wait to attack, both personal and property crimes, for you to exit the stall. 

The main corridor three days after a rain storm. 

One of the nicest shacks in Litha Park, in my opinion. 

We've been able to get some really great feedback from residents about these problems. I'm specifically focusing on fire safety, so here are a few tidbits about what we covered in today's session.

• The worst fire in Litha Park was in 2001- 300 houses burned down and 10 were killed in a matter of hours. The fire spread quickly due to the high winds on the Cape Flats, where Khayelitsha is located, and as people were going to help put it out the winds changed and the fire exploded in the opposite direction.
• Most recently, in May 8 homes were burned down. Both of these fires were because a drunk person was cooking and fell asleep. 
• Firetrucks aren't able to fit on the paths in the community, so anytime there is a fire, firefighters must use precious time to lay down pipes to snake through the settlement to reach the fire
• There is no warning system, no smoke detectors, no fire extinguishers. If someone sees smoke, the yell and hope people hear it 
• Most fires happen in December. December is the holidays, and the hottest time of the year, so the combination of dryness and people drinking and celebrating leads to negligence and fires.
• All the taps are outside of the settlement, so if there is a fire, residents must run through a maize to the outside, fill up a bucket, run back, and repeat. The taps also have very low water pressure, which makes filling up a 5 gallon bucket take about 5 minutes.
• Residents estimate that there are 1 to 2 major fires a year. 
• When a fire does happen, often people in nearby houses take as many pieces of their furniture and personal belongings out. With the proximity of these shacks, it's inevitable that if the fire is any closer than 3 or so shacks away that yours will burn down too. As a result, residents scramble to save as much as they can. When this happens most end up losing their belongings anyways because neighboring settlements hear about the fire and come and steal furniture and personal goods. 

Probably the best solution to address all of the varying issues plaguing Litha Park is a process called reblocking. Reblocking is an incredibly complex issue, but in a nutshell it involves coordination between the community and the Cape Town government where shacks will literally be taken apart and rebuilt in a new arrangement that is better for the community. Reblocking generally involves putting shacks on some sort of grid or street system as well as updating the neighborhood. When reblocking happens the city will add water and sewage infrastructure so that each house will get its own tap and toilet inside of the house. Reblocking will also add electricity for those communities who don't have it already. The other huge advantage to reblocking is that the city partners with NGOs in order to get newer, better materials for the shacks. Reconstructed shacks are made out of a corrugated alloy that is much more resistant to fire than the materials being used now. The tricky part of reblocking is taking a very small, cramped space and moving everything around so that streets and courtyards can be created without displacing any residents. Most frequently, this requires shaving small amounts off of each shack in order to contribute to the public space that will be created. Reblocking is a great process, but its still very new, and takes a very long time to organize and carry out. We were lucky enough to be able to visit Flamingo, a settlement that has just started reblocking. We met with the contractor and city planner and actually watched them create the foundation for the first shacks to be rebuilt. Once the planning is done, the actually construction takes very little time as the community members do most of the work, so we'll be stopping by before we go home to see the progress made in Flamingo. 

The Cape Town planner working on the Flamingo settlement reblocking.  

These are the sample shacks built to show the community what a finished shack will look like. They're currently being used to store construction materials until the project is finished, at which point they'll be given to a family. These shacks are 10 square meters- approximately 32 square feet.

This will be the main road/courtyard for Flamingo. As you can see, flooding is a huge issue. Unfortunately most reblocking projects so far don't deal with stormwater or drainage issues, so it's likely that the settlements will still continue to be affected by the storms during rainy season. 

What stands out to me most about the settlements is how much dignity these people have. Their living situation is inadequate by all conventional standards, yet they are going about their lives just as you or I would. Those who aren't employed are usually largely involved in civic life. Litha Park has an elected set of community leaders, as well as numerous committees one can sign up to partake in. All the children are in schools and mothers who stay at home with their young ones are on the lookout to ensure that school aged children are actually going to class each day. Within the settlement there are shops, "bars" and trading spaces. It's really quite amazing how extensive the social organization is within the settlement. Everybody knows everybody, and everyone has one another's backs. They understand that their physical space is challenging, yet make the best out of it and create an incredible sense of community within the settlement. It's so sad to see the reality of their situation (for example, on our tour I saw a marshy area with no homes around it. I asked if people hang out there, as to be it seemed like the perfect place for a patio-like hangout area, but in a tone no different than saying "I want a pb&j" he replied "no, this is where most of the bodies are found" and continued on the tour) but so inspiring to see how they handle it. The whole experience is quite humbling.

The dozen or so residents we're working directly with the most frequently are awesome. There is a fairly large language barrier as they mostly speak Xhosa (one of the tribal "click" language of Africa) but even so, you can just see how happy they are to have us there and how much they want us to understand the reality of their situation. Side note: I learned and can pronounce three of the different clicks the other day, so if you want to know how to pronounce a "q" "ch" or "x" in Xhosa, I can hook you up. Also, today, for the first time, I was able to navigate my way to the community church solo. I had a feeling I could do it, and told one of the leaders, so he ran after me as I skipped away (in my defense, it was pouring) and made it! If I can think of it, I'll try to record the pathway in so you can understand just how big of a victory this is. I also have a temporary mama here. Phezuma has taken me under her wing, calling me "my baby" or "my kate." She's quite territorial, making sure anyone who tries to get too chummy with me knows I'm claimed, but I love it. She's so funny and so very loving. Sorry Ma, that's what you get for sending your kid to Africa, she gets swiped up!