Just a Thought

So I thought I would start this entry with a little anecdote from Johannesburg.  On one of my tours around some of the townships within Soweto, the tour guide, Lebo’s brother Phillip, explained the RDP housing initiative and followed by saying that the reason RDP housing may be so poorly built is political.  Most of the people in the one specific township we were in do not vote for the ANC, the party currently in power, and the party that has been in power since the first post-Apartheid elections.  So because that part of South Africa’s population does not vote for the ANC, the government is less inclined to present Soweto with good quality living standards.  This is a strong accusation against the government, but one that is believable.  I’m not quite sure what the voting pattern is in Cape Town’s townships, but I’m guessing, if this situation is political, then the Cape Town population must be voting for the ANC.  As stated earlier, CT’s RDP housing seems to be of better quality compared to Johannesburg’s.  

So with that I thought I would throw out an idea I had in terms of infrastructure development/better housing standards.  This year my roommate did a lot of research on sustainable living aspects of shipping containers.  Now, I know shipping containers aren’t the prettiest looking things, but there are plenty of shipping containers to go around.  There are many architects out there using this type of structure to create interesting buildings.  Shipping container homes would be an interesting way to build RDP housing.  Even though shipping containers look ugly, it is quite easy to make turn them into structures that are appealing to the eye.  There are also many sustainable building materials that work well with shipping containers, in terms of insulation and things like toilets.  Now, I haven’t yet researched the possibilities fully because of limited Internet, but I do think this would be something to look into.  I am not opposed at all to traditional building materials, but exhausting other possibilities only helps the thinking process. 

The solar panels on top of some of the RDP housing in CT seemed like an excellent idea and one that should be utilized through out all RDP housing in South Africa.  I would definitely also look at other types of sustainable energy options to use for the houses, but I definitely like the idea of using affordable solar panel heating systems for housing. 

I wish I could say more about this idea, but I need to do more research.  I just wanted to get it written down.  You are welcome to comment with suggestions, comments or concerns!

I've Found a Possible Calling

So in my latest blog I wrote about a few significant phenomena that I’ve experienced that have inspired me to do something I’ve always thought about doing; something that has reaffirmed my goal to help people. 

My ambition, my goal, and my resolution: I am going to establish an NGO. 

That may not be very specific at the moment, due to the fact that it is a very recent resolution.  I’ve been thinking about starting up an NGO, but I’ve never gotten the affirmation from my gut, so to say.  I never had the feeling that I could do this and succeed, but I’ve finally reached that point.  I want to start an NGO, but before I tell you what I’m thinking of pursuing exactly, I want to give my reasoning.

I first got excited about these thoughts in Soweto while staying at Lebo’s.  His story of creating the hostel to help the local and global community motivated me to think about my ambition more.  He’s done such an excellent job at ensuring that his community benefits while the world also benefits from the information gained from the community.  His idea to turn the trash dump into a park so that the children could have a place to go to play after school touched my heart.  That whole experience made me want to help Lebo spread the word, not only about his hostel, but also about his life and the community of Orlando West.  Lebo has been pondering about creating a second Backpacker’s in Orlando East, and possibly branching out to some of the other thirty-four townships in Soweto.  At that point I wanted to say “Hey Lebo, I would love to help you branch out”.  South Africa still has a long road to travel, but at least people are walking down it (I know, a little cheesy :D.)  I knew there was something about Soweto the first day I got there, but I couldn’t put my finger on what it was.  I definitely understand now that this would be the beginning of my next great adventure. 

It wasn’t only Lebo, though, that motivated me.  It was also Bilquees, the Bo-Kaap tour guide, and Thabo and the three women from the DACPM tour.  I’m sure there are many, many more people in South Africa that have taken things into their own hands, or even taken the responsibility to build this nation to its full potential, and I want to help them do it.  I have two main focuses at the moment in terms of my ideas for an NGO.  The main one I will talk about in a few.  Something that seemed to be brought up a lot was the fact that the government isn’t supporting any of these small local level initiatives either financially or in terms of recognition from the government.  At this point, many merely say, to hell with that, we’ll have to survive on our own.  They lose faith in their government.  The three women who have helped built better houses are struggling with their organization because they’ve had promise after promise broken and no one wants to step up and volunteer or help them continue their dreams and ambitions.  I want to be there to help them.  I want people to get excited about helping these people live better lives.  I want my (future) organization to help these local level dreamers and entrepreneurs get the attention they deserve and get the materials and financial support they need to succeed in bringing South Africa out of their post-Apartheid rut.  I want my organization to give these dreamers the hopes and dreams they know will turn into realities.

Now to my other major idea.  From day one in South Africa I learned about what is called the RDP housing initiative, which is a government run program to build affordable housing for people living in shantytowns, such as areas of Soweto and Cape Town.  The shantytowns would then be torn down.  At first I though this RDP housing initiative was an excellent idea on the part of the government and I truly believed the government was doing something good for the people living in shantytowns.  Now I have mixed feelings due to two different factors.  First, on a tour around Soweto, Lebo’s brother Phillip explained that the RDP housing could be a good thing, if the government would actually put some effort into the program.  The buildings look fine on the outside and when people first move it, but most of those that have moved into RDP housing have had to vacate their homes within several months because the buildings begin to crumble and eventually become to hazardous to live in.  In CT, however, there is a slightly different dynamic.  There is RDP housing in shantytowns of CT, but some of the recently built housing is made out of more sustainable building materials AND include affordable solar panel heating systems on each home.  One top of that, and I believe this is in all of South Africa, if family income is less than 3500 rand (I can’t remember for the life of me, but it is either a month or a year…so please correct me!) that family can live in the home for free.  So I have mixed emotions about RDP housing.  Nevertheless, I would like to help improve these living conditions. 

My idea, which definitely needs to be refined, would be to create an organization that would help fund RDP housing initiatives to give all of South Africa equally sustainable RDP housing.  Housing with sustainable building materials so that buildings won’t crumble and fall and leave people homeless after several months. 

That’s not all I want to do though.  I want this organization to have several branches that cater to various categories, like development, micro financing and education.  I want to inspire people to volunteer internationally, to get out there and make a difference in the world.  I also hope to eventually branch out to other African countries as well. 

So I’m hoping no one will burst my ambitious bubble too much.  I do want people to understand that I comprehend the enormousness of this idea, and I understand that this will probably be difficult to achieve, but I’m not the type of person that gives up easily, and I’d have to say my Grandmother is my role model for this, first and foremost, but I also want to give props to Nelson Mandela.

More will come later.  Peace.

Taking the Initiative

Over the past few days I’ve been inspired by very different people within the communities of Johannesburg and Cape Town.  It started with Lebo.  As I described in the last blog Lebo created his backpacker’s hostel to bring the world to Soweto and Soweto to the world; to tell his story and to help his community members tell their stories to the world to let them know that Soweto welcomes people to go and see for themselves what life is really like there. 

When I got to Cape Town (CT) I found that there were more and more people taking this individual/local level community initiative to make their communities better places to live.  The second time I encountered this phenomenon the group and I visited a part of CT called Bo-Kaap.  Bo-Kaap is the cultural heart of CT.  This was the area of the city where the freed-slave population was confined during the 1830’s.  People from South Asian countries, such as India and Malaysia were mainly the types of freed-slaves living there.  Our tour guide took us on a walking tour of the area.  Two interesting things I was able to experience for the first time was a Mosque and a Muslim cemetery.  The Mosque in Bo-Kaap is the oldest (1794) Mosque in CT (and I think in South Africa).  There is a very long story behind it, but the gist is that South Africa’s colonial society established anti-practicing laws so that people were not allowed to practice their religion freely.  This Mosque was established while disregarding this law, and has been successfully open ever since its establishment.  Bo-Kaap is also well known for its colorful buildings and cobblestone side streets (pictures to come).  We were also invited to join Bilquees (tour guide’s name) and a friend of hers for tea and to try traditional food from the community.  Bilquees then told us about their involvement in the community and it happens to be something very similar to Lebo’s idea.  She has created an organization for women to take control of their own financial situation by either making and selling their own food items within the community or creating and selling jewelry or other arts and crafts to sell within the community or markets as well.  Just like Lebo, these women were able to find a way to benefit Bo-Kaap’s community members.  These women are also empowered and gain independence in their financial situation. 

The third time I encountered this phenomenon was while visiting the townships around CT.  Townships in South Africa aren’t exactly the same as townships in the U.S.  Townships are in this case specific areas or communities within a city.  You could compare it to cities that have parts named certain things like Brooklyn or Queens in NYC.  These townships vary from shantytowns (lower class) to the “Beverly Hills” (middle-upper class) of shantytowns.  Our tour guide on this excursion was a former freedom fighter during the Apartheid and recently established a non-profit organization called Direct Action Center for Peace and Memory (DACPM).  This organization hopes to create, or move towards creating, a world where the historical, structural and systemic injustices of opst-conflict communities are adequately commemorated, addressed and transformed to ensure greater peace and human security for everyone.  They hope to achieve this through education, psychological and economic development.  They also hope to reduce violence against women, men and children by improving the capacity of black men, specifically those who have been directly affected by political violence in South Africa. 

On our tour we drove through different townships and had lunch in a very interesting community.  This specific community had an organization that devoted itself to improving the housing situation in their township.  Three women started the organization called South Africa Homeless Peoples Federation.  In the 1990s these women decided to take the initiative to put money aside to be able to by building materials to build more sustainable houses for their community members.  How is works is everyone in the community pitches in and sets money aside for their own house.  These women then teach them how to go about building their own houses.  A really neat part is that these community members can design their own houses.  For the most part each house in that part of the township was unique.  The saving takes a long time, and the government has not made any effort to help them accomplished this.  This organization is a completely grassroots movement to make their community a more livable space.  These women took the initiative.  They’ve also created educational programs for their children to receive help, through the community, to do better in school. 

These people, who seem insignificant to the government, have been the real solution to South Africa’s problems.  These grassroots movements are really what is moving South Africa forward, and this is what inspires me.

The Beginning

Arriving in South Africa didn't seem any different than arriving in any other foreign country.  I had assumptions, but no expectations.  Johannesburg is definitely an industrial city, built up from years and years of gold mining.  My driver, Isaac and the Program Manager of the trip, Chris, who were both very welcoming, brought me to Lebo's Soweto Backpacker's.  Isaac knows the streets of Soweto like the back of his hand; he knows all the back roads and each time he's able to take a new route back to Lebo's.  Lebo's is situated the Soweto township of Orlando West.  Orlando West is famous for being the birthplace and home of Nelson Mandela.  It is also currently home to Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Winnie Mandela.  Orlando West is a middle class, predominantly black African, township.  The only white person around other than the 8 students on the trip was Lebo's wife, Maria, who is from Sweden.

I arrived in Soweto in the morning of the 11th and I had all day to adjust and settle in.  It seems I had adjusted pretty well because I was able to stay awake the entire day, purely due to my excitement of being, not only in South Africa, but being in Africa, as it is my first time ever on the continent of Africa.  At Lebo's, a visitor can enjoy the park across the street, or the shebeen in the backyard.  A shebeen is basically a makeshift bar.  There are tables to eat at, a pool table, foosball, a dart board and a bon fire (which is lit every night).  The park across the street didn't used to be there though.  Lebo, or Lebohang Maleba, built the Backpacker's from the bottom up.  Soweto is thought by most foreigners to be dangerous and poor, but I have a different view of it.  

When I arrived at Lebo's I walked into the park.  There was a slight breeze going and it made me feel at home and welcome; it felt like paradise.  Before the park was a park, it was a trash dump.  The community would bring their trash to this large plot of land and dump their trash.  Lebo took the initiative and with help from his community, cleaned up the plot of land to benefit, not only himself but also his community.  He gave children in the neighborhood a place to go after school to play soccer or do other fun activities.  Lebo's is the only hostel in Soweto.  He created it to be able to tell the story of Soweto and its people from the perspective of the people that live there and not from the outsider's perspective.  Tourists used to come into Soweto in buses, but never step out of the bus to interact with the people of Soweto.  This didn't anger or frustrate Lebo, but instead it gave him the idea to bring foreigners to Soweto so they could live with its people and experience everyday life in Soweto.  He created bike tours of Soweto so that people would get out of their buses and onto the streets of Soweto to hear the stories these South Africans had to tell.  Now I am writing to convey Lebo's message to the rest of the world.  Get out there and see it for yourself, experience it, because whatever people tell you about a certain place, it may not be true, and that especially goes for Soweto.  Soweto houses some of the friendliest people I have ever met in my life.  I had the chance to talk to employees of Lebo's, one of which will remain a good friend for as long as I live.  His name is Shepherd, otherwise known as Rastaman.  Yes, he is a Rastafarian, but he welcomed me with an open heart and mind, every morning he would greet me and we had some very interesting conversations around the bon fire.  

A day after my arrival and the arrival of a few other students, the children were playing in the park.  I had the chance to interact with them as well.  At first Heidi and I would observe and take pictures, but at one point, out of no where, a little girl wrapped her arms around my legs and pretty much did not let go the rest of the day.  If I wasn't holding her, either on my back or in front, I had to be holding her hand, or she would be sitting on me.  At one point, I did have a child on my back, I was holding another in front and I had several children hugging my legs.  I think that was one of the best days of my life.  I love that even though the standard of living in Soweto is pretty low, these children are still smiling and enjoying life.  Because they were happy, I was happy.  This little girl, whose name I never found out, seemed to me, to be the face of South Africa.  She was smiling on the outside, and I am sure on the inside, but it was quite obvious by the surroundings that her lifestyle was due to not only the Apartheid, but events dating back to colonialism.  Spending the rest of the evening with this little girl really put things in perspective for me and gave me some ideas.  

First, it has always been my goal in life to help people.  I used to want to be a doctor, but I chose International Relations and even with that major I have so many opportunities to help people.  I hope to focus on conflict resolution, human rights and development.  Lebo's has given me a way to help people.  I hope to one day be able to help Lebo expand his hostel to other townships in Soweto, so as not only to give foreigners the opportunity to experience the everyday lives of black South Africans in Soweto, but to also give members of the community opportunities to work close to home.  Many people in Soweto have to commute by train to far away workplace locations.  The 15 employees of Lebo's are lucky to be able to work in an environment so close to home.  The employees benefit from working in their neighborhood, but the entire community of Orlando West also benefits because the money earned by those employees is circulated within the community.

My other ideas will come in later blogs, so for now I am signing off!

M