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.
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| 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. |
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| Our full house |
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| I found a model... |
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| ...and a gentleman who wore a tux to the event. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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.
