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.
Showing posts with label kwathema. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kwathema. Show all posts
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Friday, May 25, 2007
loose ends
catherine and guy spent the morning on a mission to tie up loose ends. they collected the coca-cola donation just around the corner in nigel! they bought nike tog bags as prizes for the basketball games, shackles and contact adhesive for our astro turf. they arrived back at site just before lunch.
we ordered kotas lunch from our new favourite shop across the road from stan’s container. catherine had decided that we needed enhanced sustenance in order to get through the day’s tasks. there was a lot to accomplish. our launch is tomorrow and we had an a4 list of things-to-do.
i wrote a list of tasks after lunch and assigned jobs to all of our volunteers, our anc youth league heroes and ourselves. the afternoon was productive but haphazard. i spent a lot of time overseeing work and answering questions. the team worked flat-out until sunset. we had made a huge dent in the list. still outstanding however, was the erection of the mattress springs and the beercrate walls and the fixing of the astro turf.
a group powwow assumed to assess our progress. catherine suggested we stay in kwathema to assemble the beercrate panels. reluctantly we agreed – we had all known that it was inevitable but had all tried to evade the issue.
we assembled the beercrate walls until 10:30pm. mr cindy’s family made us instant coffee and tseleng, who needed a lift back to the city, told us of the aphrodisiac-properties of peanuts. we were glad we objected to hannahs suggestion of providing peanuts as the sole snack for the beerhall launch! tseleng took orders for quarts and traversed the dust bowl to stan’s container in the smoky darkness. we had not eaten, bar a couple of packets of spar maries catherine had stashed in her boot – her motherly instincts always seem to pay off in times of desperation! deliria and fatigue began to set in under the glary halogen spot mr cindy had perched on a chair. insects swarmed the warmth of the globe. we battled, tired, for the spacer guy had made. it was never anywhere to be seen.
hannah was expecting us at the friday session with rene spitz from ifg ulm and then in fordsburg for dinner at bizmullah and finally at the femi kuti concert at mary fitzgerald square. we sms’d her, but she didn’t respond. i guess she was disappointed that she would have a small turn-out from us again, but we had more important things to do – we had two beercrate walls to finish.
we left mr cindy’s feeling exhausted but relieved - we had completely underestimated the time required to assemble 48 crates. all that was left now was for our macgyver-gareth to fix the panels to the concrete structure in the morning. the end seemed nearer; i felt more excited about tomorrow than i had – everything seemed to have come together.
we ordered kotas lunch from our new favourite shop across the road from stan’s container. catherine had decided that we needed enhanced sustenance in order to get through the day’s tasks. there was a lot to accomplish. our launch is tomorrow and we had an a4 list of things-to-do.
i wrote a list of tasks after lunch and assigned jobs to all of our volunteers, our anc youth league heroes and ourselves. the afternoon was productive but haphazard. i spent a lot of time overseeing work and answering questions. the team worked flat-out until sunset. we had made a huge dent in the list. still outstanding however, was the erection of the mattress springs and the beercrate walls and the fixing of the astro turf.
a group powwow assumed to assess our progress. catherine suggested we stay in kwathema to assemble the beercrate panels. reluctantly we agreed – we had all known that it was inevitable but had all tried to evade the issue.
we assembled the beercrate walls until 10:30pm. mr cindy’s family made us instant coffee and tseleng, who needed a lift back to the city, told us of the aphrodisiac-properties of peanuts. we were glad we objected to hannahs suggestion of providing peanuts as the sole snack for the beerhall launch! tseleng took orders for quarts and traversed the dust bowl to stan’s container in the smoky darkness. we had not eaten, bar a couple of packets of spar maries catherine had stashed in her boot – her motherly instincts always seem to pay off in times of desperation! deliria and fatigue began to set in under the glary halogen spot mr cindy had perched on a chair. insects swarmed the warmth of the globe. we battled, tired, for the spacer guy had made. it was never anywhere to be seen.
hannah was expecting us at the friday session with rene spitz from ifg ulm and then in fordsburg for dinner at bizmullah and finally at the femi kuti concert at mary fitzgerald square. we sms’d her, but she didn’t respond. i guess she was disappointed that she would have a small turn-out from us again, but we had more important things to do – we had two beercrate walls to finish.
we left mr cindy’s feeling exhausted but relieved - we had completely underestimated the time required to assemble 48 crates. all that was left now was for our macgyver-gareth to fix the panels to the concrete structure in the morning. the end seemed nearer; i felt more excited about tomorrow than i had – everything seemed to have come together.
Thursday, May 24, 2007
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.
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.
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Black Power
Institutional racism is when the actions of an establishment are based on racist decisions.
KwaThema is found east of Jo'burg. I assume that during her infancy, KwaThema did not have electricity because Soweto was born in the 1900's and she only got electricity after the 1950's. KwaThema was born in 1951. Today, the coldest day of the year, the electricity was off during the day and night in some part of KwaThema . At least this did not have a bad effect on tiling at chess park.
Sandringham is a predominantly white suburb found east of Jo'burg. The area is well developed with telephone-cables located underground. Today the electricity in some part of Sandringham went off and it was switched back on during the early afternoon.
Kwathema is the type of area which historically didn't get electricity due to institutional racism. Now, when electricity is crucial, it has not returned by evening but in the suburbs all is fine long before nightime. KwaThema inspires me but the electricity-supplier's attitude towards this community leaves much to be desired.
Sunday, May 20, 2007
04.05.2007
After the council presentation yesterday, I went to sleep at 6:30pm and woke up this morning at 7:00am, and I am still tired!! Anyway today the group met in the architecture parking lot and we headed off to Union Tiles to try and get some samples and a quotation. The prices we are getting are still quite steep we are hoping they will give us a better deal once they realise this is a community project.
At the same time the launch date is approaching fast, and we still have not begun construction. I am worried that if we don’t start soon we wont be able to complete any of the interventions and that would be a real let down for us and the community. According to the schedule we worked out, we are supposed to start work on the 7th and complete it on the 21st which would leave us with 5 days to tie up any loose ends and to work on our launch and our paired projects. I have to admit the schedule is tight but hopefully we can stick to it and finish on time.
At the same time the launch date is approaching fast, and we still have not begun construction. I am worried that if we don’t start soon we wont be able to complete any of the interventions and that would be a real let down for us and the community. According to the schedule we worked out, we are supposed to start work on the 7th and complete it on the 21st which would leave us with 5 days to tie up any loose ends and to work on our launch and our paired projects. I have to admit the schedule is tight but hopefully we can stick to it and finish on time.
Friday, May 18, 2007
the b in b&r
mr cindy was due to meet the roads department contractors at 7am in order to negotiate the use of their tlb again. news had it that sigfred, the manager of the kwathema depot had been reprimanded for helping us yesterday. it seemed that the plans for clearing the site completely today had fallen through.
gareth and i spent the morning driving around. we had fetched the plascon paint donation and the trailer was full. we traversed johannesburg to places i had never been. we discovered the fundamental differences between boksburg, benoni and brakpan.
we returned to kwathema after lunch with the trailer bulging. murray and roberts had donated us props, instant trees had given us planting material for our trees. we had bought grass at a discounted price form b&r lawns.
we arrived back traumatized by the pastoral visit to b&r engineering in fact, which happened to sell instant lawn on the side! the main office was adorned with a stuffed baboon wearing a blue bulls cap and a log bar with matching log barstools. klippies and bells were mounted above the counter ready for friday afterwork drinks. the man who helped us had mechanic-black nails and a huge beer belly. i asked hysterical gareth to leave the office so that i could compose myself while he wrote out my receipt. we waited for our lawn strips to be cut by the laborers, where a bakkie fitted with horns waited too, and left speedily.
on site we planted the first eight trees – we did not have enough shovels to go around, so it took most of the afternoon. others laid the freshly cut lawn. we bucketed water back and forth from mr cindy’s house.
a kwaito star and his crew arrived at the site in a white tazz. they had filmed a music video there in march and were back to do a photographic shoot. veli had started the uprising mural this morning and the group used the image many times as a backdrop. although incomplete, it was powerful and strong, a narration of the history there. catherine asked them for a short interview - chisa boy and his manager lebo, were positive about the ruins of the beerhall and were interested in performing at our launch. they seemed underwhelmed by the fact that we could not pay them.
we left the site as dusk dawned. the beerhall burnt orange in the low setting sun.
gareth and i spent the morning driving around. we had fetched the plascon paint donation and the trailer was full. we traversed johannesburg to places i had never been. we discovered the fundamental differences between boksburg, benoni and brakpan.
we returned to kwathema after lunch with the trailer bulging. murray and roberts had donated us props, instant trees had given us planting material for our trees. we had bought grass at a discounted price form b&r lawns.
we arrived back traumatized by the pastoral visit to b&r engineering in fact, which happened to sell instant lawn on the side! the main office was adorned with a stuffed baboon wearing a blue bulls cap and a log bar with matching log barstools. klippies and bells were mounted above the counter ready for friday afterwork drinks. the man who helped us had mechanic-black nails and a huge beer belly. i asked hysterical gareth to leave the office so that i could compose myself while he wrote out my receipt. we waited for our lawn strips to be cut by the laborers, where a bakkie fitted with horns waited too, and left speedily.
on site we planted the first eight trees – we did not have enough shovels to go around, so it took most of the afternoon. others laid the freshly cut lawn. we bucketed water back and forth from mr cindy’s house.
a kwaito star and his crew arrived at the site in a white tazz. they had filmed a music video there in march and were back to do a photographic shoot. veli had started the uprising mural this morning and the group used the image many times as a backdrop. although incomplete, it was powerful and strong, a narration of the history there. catherine asked them for a short interview - chisa boy and his manager lebo, were positive about the ruins of the beerhall and were interested in performing at our launch. they seemed underwhelmed by the fact that we could not pay them.
we left the site as dusk dawned. the beerhall burnt orange in the low setting sun.
18.05.2007
I was not on site today but I have learnt that the foundations were indeed completed that same day, and the brick wall was completed today, and the concrete slab was even laid today. It seems like everything is right on track and hopefully we will be able to lay the tiles on Monday, giving us time to organise the launch. My only concern is with our tight budget as it is we cannot afford for Union Tiles to deliver the concrete tiles and we now have to find a means of getting the tiles onto site.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
bollards and batteries
we arrived at kwa thema just before lunchtime. it seemed strange to come empty handed – in comparison to yesterday - but we had left some supplies at mr cindy’s house so we had all we needed. we were still guarding the rotary drill, lent to us by fischer, with our lives so it went everywhere we went!
the anc volunteers were gathered around the central space and as we approached, we spotted 82 second-hand tyres that they had very diligently hauled to the site. we were overwhelmed by the quantity! as we began to mark the positions of the tyre bollards, we realized that the entire area where we had imagined them to go was in fact tarred! this would mean a huge amount of labour-intensive digging. and so we amended our previous bollard conceptions to suit the hard conditions. the tyres are to be stacked, 3 high, and filled with site rubble, which we had imagined would never be entirely removed in time for the launch. the tyre towers are then going to be painted and planted with a grass top.
drilling for the balusters commenced and after many-a-change-of-battery, gareth stepped down from the ladder just after 2pm. after a cheap russian roll and chips from lizzy’s catering, we once again reviewed hannah’s suggestions. we consulted mr cindy and stan about our revised ideas for the balustrade – their supposed non-understanding about our intentions led to their response, “i think it’ll be fine.”
we walked out to the north of the building, tip-toeing around rubbish, to examine the concrete slabs around the structure. gareth, catherine and guy passed some time in the central space, kicking tyres about – the noise echoed and clouds of dust mushroomed.
following sab’s reluctance to associate their beer crates with children, we decided to pursue the softdrink crate route. the crates are in fact more transparent and as a result will make a far less definitive screen. the next step of course, is to acquire 130 of them!
we left the site after hanging some mattress springs from one of the column bays, just north off the central space. the 3-dimensional quality of the springs was beautiful – the light and shadows esoteric. they coils framed the views. we decided we would erect 2 more in the upper bays and let them sway in the gusts of our blustery site.
children gathered to watch the tyre towers being assembled by the volunteers. they perched on the concrete slab with their milk-bottle push cars beside them. we gathered our belongings and headed to the car.
in the park south of the library, we spotted some kite fliers and stopped. the wind was belting. the wool cords taught and the danger-tape tails swooshing around furiously. catherine approached them and explained our saturday kite-making workshop. they said they would be there. and again we began the torturous journey to johannesburg – the sun setting below the extent of our sun-visors, our hands filthy and eyes heavy.
the anc volunteers were gathered around the central space and as we approached, we spotted 82 second-hand tyres that they had very diligently hauled to the site. we were overwhelmed by the quantity! as we began to mark the positions of the tyre bollards, we realized that the entire area where we had imagined them to go was in fact tarred! this would mean a huge amount of labour-intensive digging. and so we amended our previous bollard conceptions to suit the hard conditions. the tyres are to be stacked, 3 high, and filled with site rubble, which we had imagined would never be entirely removed in time for the launch. the tyre towers are then going to be painted and planted with a grass top.
drilling for the balusters commenced and after many-a-change-of-battery, gareth stepped down from the ladder just after 2pm. after a cheap russian roll and chips from lizzy’s catering, we once again reviewed hannah’s suggestions. we consulted mr cindy and stan about our revised ideas for the balustrade – their supposed non-understanding about our intentions led to their response, “i think it’ll be fine.”
we walked out to the north of the building, tip-toeing around rubbish, to examine the concrete slabs around the structure. gareth, catherine and guy passed some time in the central space, kicking tyres about – the noise echoed and clouds of dust mushroomed.
following sab’s reluctance to associate their beer crates with children, we decided to pursue the softdrink crate route. the crates are in fact more transparent and as a result will make a far less definitive screen. the next step of course, is to acquire 130 of them!
we left the site after hanging some mattress springs from one of the column bays, just north off the central space. the 3-dimensional quality of the springs was beautiful – the light and shadows esoteric. they coils framed the views. we decided we would erect 2 more in the upper bays and let them sway in the gusts of our blustery site.
children gathered to watch the tyre towers being assembled by the volunteers. they perched on the concrete slab with their milk-bottle push cars beside them. we gathered our belongings and headed to the car.
in the park south of the library, we spotted some kite fliers and stopped. the wind was belting. the wool cords taught and the danger-tape tails swooshing around furiously. catherine approached them and explained our saturday kite-making workshop. they said they would be there. and again we began the torturous journey to johannesburg – the sun setting below the extent of our sun-visors, our hands filthy and eyes heavy.
Monday, May 14, 2007
leaps and bounds
we spent the morning in the workshop, drilling. it seemed to go much faster than we had expected – we felt so positive! we created the perfect production line, so efficient, so intense and silently productive. catherine fetching a section from the table in front, measuring, scoring, measuring and scoring; guy collecting the steel from the same table in front, positioning it on the smaller drill press, drilling the pilot holes, flipping it over and drilling 2 more; me collecting the drilled baluster, carrying it to gareth at the larger drill press, lacing the pilot holes with cutting paste, gareth drilling the 13mm holes, flipping it over and drilling the other 2, me dusting off the shavings and carrying it to the ready-to-go stack and then to the quickly diminishing pile to replenish catherine’s stock on the table in front…
we left for kwa thema just after 10am and arrived on site to find our anc youth league team hard at work. they have been so fantastic and so surprisingly willing and enthusiastic. i cant believe that a group of young guys would be so keen to work so hard for no reward at all – other than the obvious reward of giving back to their community and in turn creating a space that they can have a little ownership over of course! we always give them a little to eat and drink which i guess makes it all a little more worth their while.
the site was looking so clean and just as we had always romantically pictured it. stark, hard, brutal and sparkling! we all felt so good. we had arrived with a car full of tools and equipment and knew that we were going to take big leaps today.
while the anc guys cleaned, we began the measuring process for our balustrade. guy had arranged an automatic leveling machine from his father, so he set it up, found a datum and began the leveling. again, we were surprised by how smoothly everything went – the marking was complete in an hour. the drilling was less successful as the batteries for the drill were not charged, but we left the site feeling as though we had accomplished a huge task.
the germans and hannah arrived while we were drilling – we were uncertain as to how they would react considering their responses to our design last week and hannah’s huge concerns for the re-thinking of our intentions. we seem to be rather defensive and reluctant to change, but in fairness to us, it seems as though our dreams for the project may not be entirely realized – we felt very disheartened and demoralized. we left the site feeling low again. the drive back was emotional and heavy.
we left for kwa thema just after 10am and arrived on site to find our anc youth league team hard at work. they have been so fantastic and so surprisingly willing and enthusiastic. i cant believe that a group of young guys would be so keen to work so hard for no reward at all – other than the obvious reward of giving back to their community and in turn creating a space that they can have a little ownership over of course! we always give them a little to eat and drink which i guess makes it all a little more worth their while.
the site was looking so clean and just as we had always romantically pictured it. stark, hard, brutal and sparkling! we all felt so good. we had arrived with a car full of tools and equipment and knew that we were going to take big leaps today.
while the anc guys cleaned, we began the measuring process for our balustrade. guy had arranged an automatic leveling machine from his father, so he set it up, found a datum and began the leveling. again, we were surprised by how smoothly everything went – the marking was complete in an hour. the drilling was less successful as the batteries for the drill were not charged, but we left the site feeling as though we had accomplished a huge task.
the germans and hannah arrived while we were drilling – we were uncertain as to how they would react considering their responses to our design last week and hannah’s huge concerns for the re-thinking of our intentions. we seem to be rather defensive and reluctant to change, but in fairness to us, it seems as though our dreams for the project may not be entirely realized – we felt very disheartened and demoralized. we left the site feeling low again. the drive back was emotional and heavy.
14.05.2007
What a day! When me, Sifiso and Karabo got to site, we met kasia who had arrived an hour earlier and had negotiated with Benny and Benji to lower their fee. However, it was clear that we were now going to have to work harder than ever to get the work done, because with the lower fee, all the labour was going to come from us and the volunteers! This predicament showed how strong the community spirit was because so many volunteers showed up this particular day and we even managed to remove all the top soil before lunch.
Benny later on told us, because the fee had been reduced so much, he didn’t think he could afford to supervise us the whole day, but said he would give the supervision of the project over to two other builders, Sonny Boy and Solomon, and would come and check in from time to time on how the work was going. I was disappointed to see him go, but that was short lived when I saw how efficient Sonny Boy and Solomon were. We managed to start mixing and pouring the concrete into the trenches after lunch, only stopping to buy more sand and by the time we left Kwathema at 4:30pm the foundations were 2/3 done, and Sonny Boy and Solomon reassured us that they would keep working to make sure they were finished before the end of the day.
Benny later on told us, because the fee had been reduced so much, he didn’t think he could afford to supervise us the whole day, but said he would give the supervision of the project over to two other builders, Sonny Boy and Solomon, and would come and check in from time to time on how the work was going. I was disappointed to see him go, but that was short lived when I saw how efficient Sonny Boy and Solomon were. We managed to start mixing and pouring the concrete into the trenches after lunch, only stopping to buy more sand and by the time we left Kwathema at 4:30pm the foundations were 2/3 done, and Sonny Boy and Solomon reassured us that they would keep working to make sure they were finished before the end of the day.
Friday, May 11, 2007
politics and perusals
gareth and catherine collected our steel in strydom park at 9:20am. i arrived at the workshop a little late so had missed out on a bit but it was liberating to finally see some material! and it was so sexy! i never thought i would feel so fond of a pile of 100x50mm c-sections! we discussed our way forward and ran our ideas past peter, the workshop manager. everything seemed to be going smoothly.
we drove to fischer to meet with kerry’s brother, richard as kerry was away. we became concerned that the anchors that they have proposed for our balustrade would not be sufficient to hold up the monstrous balusters – but he assured us that they would. upon promising to always, throughout our entire professional careers, specify fischer as the number one fixing, he donated 100 anchors to our project! richard then give us a lesson on rotary drilling and generously lent us their r6000 portable drill. we were overwhelmed by his generosity – not only his actually, but the entire groups’. it seemed extraordinary that such a bunch of people still existed in this world. i can assure anyone reading this, that fischer definitely has a far superior product to others on the market – if only for this reason! we walked out feeling completely overwhelmed.
at 2pm, we began a workshop with bernd and christopher. it was lengthy and at times heated, or should i say, rather intensely discursive! they reiterated their concerns about our lack of process and analysis, and our subsequent failure in making informed design decisions. they spoke about process and networking and the clear distinction between form and modernist attitudes. we were quiet and bewildered by the news. only a week earlier, we had presented to council and had, as we thought, received the go-ahead. why were they throwing this spanner into our works? and why was hannah shifting the goal posts? we have only 2 weeks until our launch! the frustration and disheartenment was huge and the tension between us and them rose. all of our hard work and what we thought was process, seemed to be insufficient for their requirements. it became clear to me that the politics in design and designing politics that they were referring to was not about kwathema and its people or even about the project, but rather about the varying agendas of the people around the table. ifg ulm vs hannah vs us students! our hearts broke and the community’s broke with ours.
we stayed behind to propose a possible r15000 donation from sab to hannah. she suggested we take it for a possible future project. but we knew that they would not give it to us under this pretext.
we left feeling gray.
we drove to fischer to meet with kerry’s brother, richard as kerry was away. we became concerned that the anchors that they have proposed for our balustrade would not be sufficient to hold up the monstrous balusters – but he assured us that they would. upon promising to always, throughout our entire professional careers, specify fischer as the number one fixing, he donated 100 anchors to our project! richard then give us a lesson on rotary drilling and generously lent us their r6000 portable drill. we were overwhelmed by his generosity – not only his actually, but the entire groups’. it seemed extraordinary that such a bunch of people still existed in this world. i can assure anyone reading this, that fischer definitely has a far superior product to others on the market – if only for this reason! we walked out feeling completely overwhelmed.
at 2pm, we began a workshop with bernd and christopher. it was lengthy and at times heated, or should i say, rather intensely discursive! they reiterated their concerns about our lack of process and analysis, and our subsequent failure in making informed design decisions. they spoke about process and networking and the clear distinction between form and modernist attitudes. we were quiet and bewildered by the news. only a week earlier, we had presented to council and had, as we thought, received the go-ahead. why were they throwing this spanner into our works? and why was hannah shifting the goal posts? we have only 2 weeks until our launch! the frustration and disheartenment was huge and the tension between us and them rose. all of our hard work and what we thought was process, seemed to be insufficient for their requirements. it became clear to me that the politics in design and designing politics that they were referring to was not about kwathema and its people or even about the project, but rather about the varying agendas of the people around the table. ifg ulm vs hannah vs us students! our hearts broke and the community’s broke with ours.
we stayed behind to propose a possible r15000 donation from sab to hannah. she suggested we take it for a possible future project. but we knew that they would not give it to us under this pretext.
we left feeling gray.
11.05.2007
When we got to site Benji, our builder, had brought along Benny his partner and we discussed the project. He said (Benny) that it should take no longer than a week which was good news, but the bad news was the amount he was charging us, we simply couldn’t afford his services. After some haggling we settled on a lower figure but we decided it would be wise to talk to Hannah about this. Benji and Benny also helped us make an inventory of all the materials we would need to construct the chess board, which me and Kasia took to Cash Build to get a quotation. While at Cash Build we also ordered the materials required to make the foundations to be delivered first thing Monday morning. After this I realised two things; first, an understanding of how expensive it is to build even the simplest of structures and second, if we were going to build this chess board we had to start economising drastically.
After two days of digging we realised we were making slow progress because the soil was very rocky and hard and our target of having our foundations at a depth of approximately 700mm was still quite far. That’s when we made the decision, with consultation from Benji that we would reduce the number of courses and only dig to a depth of 500mm. This actually worked out well because it meant by the time we left this afternoon we had virtually completed digging our trenches!
Later in the afternoon we met with the German representatives for a workshop, they were a bit concerned with the lack of documentation, and felt that we should be including more…
We also got a chance to speak with Hannah and were quite surprised to find that Benji and Benny were charging us far more than the going rate for their services. Meaning we still have to negotiate a price with our builders on Monday!
After two days of digging we realised we were making slow progress because the soil was very rocky and hard and our target of having our foundations at a depth of approximately 700mm was still quite far. That’s when we made the decision, with consultation from Benji that we would reduce the number of courses and only dig to a depth of 500mm. This actually worked out well because it meant by the time we left this afternoon we had virtually completed digging our trenches!
Later in the afternoon we met with the German representatives for a workshop, they were a bit concerned with the lack of documentation, and felt that we should be including more…
We also got a chance to speak with Hannah and were quite surprised to find that Benji and Benny were charging us far more than the going rate for their services. Meaning we still have to negotiate a price with our builders on Monday!
Thursday, May 10, 2007
steaming ahead
we arrived on site to discover a building! the anc youth league were hard at work. mr cindy and stan were there – working too. they had rounded up a team and had been clearing since monday. we were overwhelmed. finally, the first leap had been taken – and for the first time it seemed we may realize our dreams!
i spent the day sweeping, shoveling, moving rubble, collecting bricks, sweeping, loosening, resting. eric was possessive over his grass broom and i spent a long while waiting for him to pass it on. the sun beat down on my fair skin, my mouth dry and eyes scratchy. dust had settled in a thin layer over my face – i could feel it there.
the others did less physical work but resolved many on-site issues.
the germans arrived. it was our first taste of hostility and reservation towards our project. they seemed confused about our intentions – constantly expressing our lack of process and analysis. hannah seemed to agree with them – we felt violated that she had been swayed by them and that we weren’t being defended. our spirits dropped. our hearts sunk. our minds raced.
we made constant trips to cashbuild for gloves and dust masks. in the car on the way back we spotted a steamroller. it was perfect! it could do the work of 20 in 5 minutes! i waved it down and pleaded with the driver to come to our site. after a while he sensed my genuine plea and let me hop on board. we crawled back to the beerhall. it was less than a kilometer away but took us an age! the machine was so deeply powerful and dominating. we pulled up to the structure – everyone was staring! the rumble of the roller had obviously grabbed some attentions.
we met at stan’s for a braai. we sat under the carport. the food was comforting and the huge quarts of brutal fruit warming. the sun began to set, the silhouette of the beerhall dominating and clear. children had gathered there and seemed free and expressive. they animated the silhouette as we had hoped, their little bodies swaying and dipping and hanging.
we headed back to johannesburg – putting up newspapers on the way out.
i spent the day sweeping, shoveling, moving rubble, collecting bricks, sweeping, loosening, resting. eric was possessive over his grass broom and i spent a long while waiting for him to pass it on. the sun beat down on my fair skin, my mouth dry and eyes scratchy. dust had settled in a thin layer over my face – i could feel it there.
the others did less physical work but resolved many on-site issues.
the germans arrived. it was our first taste of hostility and reservation towards our project. they seemed confused about our intentions – constantly expressing our lack of process and analysis. hannah seemed to agree with them – we felt violated that she had been swayed by them and that we weren’t being defended. our spirits dropped. our hearts sunk. our minds raced.
we made constant trips to cashbuild for gloves and dust masks. in the car on the way back we spotted a steamroller. it was perfect! it could do the work of 20 in 5 minutes! i waved it down and pleaded with the driver to come to our site. after a while he sensed my genuine plea and let me hop on board. we crawled back to the beerhall. it was less than a kilometer away but took us an age! the machine was so deeply powerful and dominating. we pulled up to the structure – everyone was staring! the rumble of the roller had obviously grabbed some attentions.
we met at stan’s for a braai. we sat under the carport. the food was comforting and the huge quarts of brutal fruit warming. the sun began to set, the silhouette of the beerhall dominating and clear. children had gathered there and seemed free and expressive. they animated the silhouette as we had hoped, their little bodies swaying and dipping and hanging.
we headed back to johannesburg – putting up newspapers on the way out.
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
nico's notes
tom and i left for kwa thema after our routine wednesday lectures in order to conduct interviews for our weekly newspaper. tom had had a car accident this morning, so we stopped at the braamfontein satellite police station. the lieutenant was surprisingly helpful but slow to write.
we headed for kwa thema after 3pm, the light was already changing.
we waited for gift at the library. his brother wanted to advertise in our newspaper. we waited and waited. tom got despondent about the project – the waste of time had sparked a negativity in him that i couldn’t repair. we left the parking lot for nico’s phooko’s house.
nico unpacked all of his artwork, his brochures, his music cds, his paints, and his history. tom interviewed; i recorded. nico’s story was rich and deeply layered – his enthusiasm and passion for change eminated. he oozed flair, style and attitude.
we left for johannesburg at dusk after collecting advertisements and an interview with artist, wilson, and after a sneak preview of the new clean beerhall – mr cindy had contacted catherine to tell her that it was finally clean and that we should come soon. so we did and it was fabulous. i called the whole group to tell them the news.
the sky was musty and muddy. smoke hung in the cool air. the sun blazed through the windscreen all the way home.
we headed for kwa thema after 3pm, the light was already changing.
we waited for gift at the library. his brother wanted to advertise in our newspaper. we waited and waited. tom got despondent about the project – the waste of time had sparked a negativity in him that i couldn’t repair. we left the parking lot for nico’s phooko’s house.
nico unpacked all of his artwork, his brochures, his music cds, his paints, and his history. tom interviewed; i recorded. nico’s story was rich and deeply layered – his enthusiasm and passion for change eminated. he oozed flair, style and attitude.
we left for johannesburg at dusk after collecting advertisements and an interview with artist, wilson, and after a sneak preview of the new clean beerhall – mr cindy had contacted catherine to tell her that it was finally clean and that we should come soon. so we did and it was fabulous. i called the whole group to tell them the news.
the sky was musty and muddy. smoke hung in the cool air. the sun blazed through the windscreen all the way home.
Monday, May 7, 2007
07.05.2007
O.K, this afternoon we met Gugu and had lunch at a local restaurant, beef stew! After this hearty meal we were ready to start working. Our first task was setting out the chess board it took us a bit longer than scheduled because none of us had done it before, but we managed to work it out eventually! We were also joined by two new volunteers today, Sifiso and Cileus, who helped with the setting out. They tell us that they have had previous work experience on site, which will surely come in handy later on… Overall we had a slow start today but we managed to accomplish what we set out to do, so for now we are still on schedule...
Oh yeah good news… it seems like Union Tiles is willing to charge us half price for the Tiles!
Oh yeah good news… it seems like Union Tiles is willing to charge us half price for the Tiles!
Thursday, May 3, 2007
03.05.2007
The group pulled an all nighter, last night, to get everything ready for Council Presentation today. Guy and I even managed to complete are paired project as well! The Council Presentations went relatively well, especially the Chess Park presentation, the paired project, where we combined the themes of our individual reports to come up with a recycling centre housed in a shipping container was mostly well received but a few people had some reservations about the idea. I personally thought the idea of painting a shipping container and converting it into a recycling point was a great idea, especially since the Beer Hall was already being used as a dumping ground! At least by providing a nearby alternative to dumping we could encourage people not to dump on the Bee Hall site! At least that’s what I think?!
The red circle indicates the proposed site of our recycling centre. The darker red shape is the beer hall.
The red circle indicates the proposed site of our recycling centre. The darker red shape is the beer hall. I was also surprised at how official and what an impact our interventions were having on Kwathema. This realisation was brought about by the number of people who had come to see our presentations and also the number of council and government officials present.
Friday, April 27, 2007
27.04.2007
Once again we are back on site! At least the presentation went well last week, what we have to do now is prepare for the Council presentation on the 3rd. The work is starting to pile up, and we still haven’t started constructing anything yet, and the quotations we are getting for materials are way out of our budget! Union Tile seems to be interested in cutting us a deal though!
Guy and I have only briefly talked about the paired project, with all the work we are putting into our group projects it hasn’t left us much time to discuss our project, and the paired projects are to be presented to the Council on the third as well!
Guy and I have only briefly talked about the paired project, with all the work we are putting into our group projects it hasn’t left us much time to discuss our project, and the paired projects are to be presented to the Council on the third as well!
Monday, April 16, 2007
16.04.2007
Today we got to Kwathema and had a light lunch and a briefing at the library before we left for the Chess Park. At the briefing I finally got to see how much work we have ahead of us and the limited time we have. All I can say is, its going to be a close call! Well, with this new understanding of the magnitude of the project and the up coming presentation, once we got on site, it was all business. We mapped out and gathered all the information we are going to need to start designing our interventions.
Tom, Anthony and Gift on the chess park site about to start mapping.
Tom, Anthony and Gift on the chess park site about to start mapping.Broken Glass
This was my second time in KwaThema. We left Wits University at about 13h00 and took a slow drive and got to KwaThema at about 14h00.
We met up with some of the volunteers that we had met the previous Thursday. We were familiar with some of them but introduced ourselves to the people that we hadn’t met on Thursday. Khula and myself walked to the beerhall structure with Lawrence, Wandile and some of the other volunteers. I chatted a little bit to Lawrence on the way to the beerhall and found out a bit about him- he was born and raised in KwaThema but lived in Cape Town for a few years whilst studying Chemical Engineering at Belville Technical College. He is back in KwaThema now until he figures out his life path.
Arriving at the beerhall, we all climbed the stairs to the first floor of the structure where we sat and started throwing around ideas regarding our design. My first impression of being up on that upper floor that day was that the structure was very unsafe. There were children using the structure as a giant piece of playground equipment which disturbed me in a way because of the poor safety of the building- it is covered in bits of broken glass and the first floor is completely open to the ground floor and it would be very easy to fall of the structure and get hurt.
Children have really taken ownership of the building. I think this has a lot to do with the fact that it does resemble a piece of playground equipment. Children are oblivious and sort of fearless of the fact that there is broken glass scattered all over the building and that they could be badly hurt if the fall but they don’t have the same reservations that an adult would have. They just use the building for fun. I really want to see this space being safer for children as well as drawing older youth and adults into the space.
We met up with some of the volunteers that we had met the previous Thursday. We were familiar with some of them but introduced ourselves to the people that we hadn’t met on Thursday. Khula and myself walked to the beerhall structure with Lawrence, Wandile and some of the other volunteers. I chatted a little bit to Lawrence on the way to the beerhall and found out a bit about him- he was born and raised in KwaThema but lived in Cape Town for a few years whilst studying Chemical Engineering at Belville Technical College. He is back in KwaThema now until he figures out his life path.
Arriving at the beerhall, we all climbed the stairs to the first floor of the structure where we sat and started throwing around ideas regarding our design. My first impression of being up on that upper floor that day was that the structure was very unsafe. There were children using the structure as a giant piece of playground equipment which disturbed me in a way because of the poor safety of the building- it is covered in bits of broken glass and the first floor is completely open to the ground floor and it would be very easy to fall of the structure and get hurt.
Children have really taken ownership of the building. I think this has a lot to do with the fact that it does resemble a piece of playground equipment. Children are oblivious and sort of fearless of the fact that there is broken glass scattered all over the building and that they could be badly hurt if the fall but they don’t have the same reservations that an adult would have. They just use the building for fun. I really want to see this space being safer for children as well as drawing older youth and adults into the space.
Friday, April 13, 2007
13.04.2007
This afternoon we met as the members of the Chess Park team; Kasia, Sifiso, Tom, Karabo and me, in the architecture parking lot. We drove up to Kwathema together, and met the rest of the Kwathema Project people at the Kwathema Library for lunch. From there the volunteers were split up between the Beer Hall and the Chess Park teams, Gift, Gugu and Phindile joined our group. Today the group really just looked around the site and observed what actually happened, basically how the people used the site as it is. To be honest we didn’t really get that much done today, I think we were a bit overwhelmed and didn’t know where to start!
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