the d-day

after only a few hours sleep, i rolled out of bed at 4:15am. i had to be on site by 6am to strike the shuttering for tagging kwathema. the volunteers i had employed were waiting diligently, in the blistering cold, smoky breaths and numbed hands.

after hours of manual un-screwing of the shutterwork, and many a curse to tom’s over-design, we finally struck the first bollard at 7:30am.

the morning became a blur. frantic rushing around, enough phonecalls to warrant shares in vodacom, cold sweat and aimless, nervous wandering around, finally brought us to 10:30am. the day progressed from the burning of traditional incense to the giant tournament at the inaugurated chess park, a raw piece of boerewors, a couple of ciders and then a rush of a million children to the oily snacks at the beerhall. hannah had suggested we serve bags of salted peanuts; we objected, once again, and were glad we had, once again…

the swarms of grubby children, pushing, shoving, biting, crying engulfed us. some older children took the lead with belts and loud voices. ONE LINE. ONE LINE. vetkoeks and hotdogs were dished out, one by one. tears welled up in a volunteer’s eyes at the sight of the last tray of food – children stared at us in desperation. the girls were submissive; the boys abusive and vexatious. maybe we were succumbing to the sympathy vote we have all been told about. the volunteers were mixed with emotion – angry at the disorder, traumatized by the aggression, saddened by the yearning for what seemed like such simple food, exhausted from little sleep and lots of policing.

my day was rounded off by a sneaky drink at stan’s. i felt guilty for abandoning my group in its final hour – but i did it anyway. the sun set and more and more people dribbled in. lawrence recited some poetry he had written about beauty, and phumi followed suit. we attempted some group poetry. once upon a time… there was a man… who came from kwathema… and decided… phillip, the chesspark welder didn’t get it. i would just like to thank everybody for… he kept saying at his turn. well I guess many thanks were in order for such a victory.

Launch Photos

(click for more photos from Saturday's launch)

acceleration

after a 2am night and 5:30am morning finishing the shuttering, tom and i headed for the cement and concrete institute in midrand to pour our concrete. we had arranged the session with mathews, their education facilitator. he had obliged and agreed to supply us with concrete and a set accelerator as we had to strike the moulds in two days!

the cnci workshop was surprisingly sterile and clean and organized. mathews seemed very knowledgeable and advised us on a 3:3:1 mix. it seemed too dry but tom assured me it wasn’t.
the work was physical and heavy. my knuckles were battered from last night’s shuttering assembly. the cuts were raw and scabs struggled to latch on as i scooped aggregate, sand and cement into buckets. we worked hard and fast in order to get back to kwathema at an hour reasonable to complete some tasks.

after mixing 36 buckets of stone, 36 buckets of sand, 12 buckets of cement and 26.4 litres of water in 12 batches in the mixer, the moulds were filled. the vibrating table was rigorous and bucked like a rodeo bull. tom, mathews and another man transferred the 100+ kg moulds onto a trolley for relocation to the store.

we left the cnci just before lunch and raced back to kwathema.

i arrived to find much progress. white lines were being painted across the tar towards our trees, the concrete slabs were being primed, the tyre bollards had been completed, a fischer representative was on site chemical mortaring the abacus rods into the brickwork and a front-end loader was roaring across the adjacent site dumping rubbish into a tip truck. veli was completing the beam of names and was soon to move onto the donors logos. i was relieved that i had such a motivated and focused group.

children had begun to gather at the abacus and as soon as permissible, started a game of spin-the-block. they jumped and high-fived and shouted.

i slotted in by attempting to assemble the tyre fixings that had been delivered by fischer. fischer had been so reliable and accommodating and so unexpectedly generous. guy and i battled with alignment and gareth drilled the holes. hannah arrived and commented on the handrail. she said she quite liked the yellow colour of the steel primer. she said it was far more discrete than the red would be.

catherine started to black-out miller for veli to write our. it finally seemed that we were generating big developments.

we headed back to johannesburg satisfied after making such big strides.

white on black

gareth and i met at build plumb and tile. he bought blue paint for his paired project. i ordered the final shuttering and polystyrene required for our tagging kwathema moulds. mario was very obliging and outstandingly helpful after last saturday’s abacus-blocks delay. laserfab called to notify me that our steel alphabet was ready for collection. we went to kwathema via troyeville to collect them. they were so perfect and slick and exactly what i had hoped for. each letter was individually labeled and packaged. rupesh and flavio had been so obliging and generous with our tight deadline and minuscule budget. catherine and guy went to kwa thema via kerry at fischer to collect another fifty anchor bolts.

on site, i assumed the role of tyre-bollard painter. the wind was relentless - we had strung up danger tape around our new grassy oasis and it flapped in the wind like the black bag kites. the noise was so serene and surreal. i felt calm and content. i was the sole proprietor over my bollards; my own agent. nobody to consult and nobody consulting me. my mind was still and my concentration intense. the tape oscillated insistently with the rhythms of the wind.

i completed the khumbuza street bollards and surrendered to the battle of the wide brush upon the narrow treads. the white on black.

highveld hell

a cold front had hit the highveld. it was freezing cold, the icy wind relentlessly sawed through my layers. my hands were numb and aching, and slow to move.

tom and i were due to cut and assemble our shutterboards for our tagging kwathema project in the architecture workshop. we arrived to find a power failure across the campus.

to pass time we ran some errands. we delivered our dxf drawings for laser cutting to laserfab in troyeville. rupesh was unbelievably accommodating – he was so passionate about his job and showed us around the factory. the automated laser cutting machine was fascinating. it was precise, moved sharply, jerking backwards and forwards, laser beams pulsing through the sheet metal with the ease of a needle and thread through a piece of cotton cloth.

we returned to wits to find the power still out. we needed to make another plan for cutting the timber. i was concerned that i would not get back to kwathema today if we were to cut it by hand – i would be letting my group down if i didn’t. but we signed out a circular saw and two clamps and headed to tom’s house.

we needed to work outside, in the blistering cold. we worked fast and warmed ourselves with intervals of rooibos and homemade shortbread. our hands ached and stiffened at their exposure to the cold front chill. our feet became numb and toes swollen. i thought often of how cold it must have been on site in kwathema – the wind was so eminent for its relentless gusts. i hoped that my group would survive it all. i called often – probably more to relieve my guilty conscience than for my concerns of their warmth!

i left tom’s house just before the night settled. my heater on full-blast, blowing dry air into my face and onto my feet.