Touching base with chesspark...

Yesterday was Tuesday, 29 May….
I decided to revisit Kwathema, curiosity and the sense of incompletion drove me to it.
Upon arriving at the chess academy, I felt the usual sense of urgency. It was soon broken..
Anthony Shoba was there with two other men…I greeted Anthony and acknowledged the others, Anthony warmly replied, “are you not going to greet the others”….I realized then that due to my hurried attitude I had forgotten my manners, not only in that moment but probably throughout the past few weeks.

With this realization I relaxed and sat down. One of the men, Rolly Xipu, expressed his enthusiasm about the work we had done, the other, Tshepo Matseme, a fellow chess tutor at the Kwathema Chess academy, dittoed that.

Anthony was glowing, I asked him about the event on Saturday. He said that the tournament was a great success and that had attracted lots of new enthusiasts, both children and adults. It was the first time he had hosted an outdoor chess tournament, there were 46 players in total, divided into categories of Under 9, Under 11, Under 13, Under 15, and Open.

Both Anthony and Tshepo have extended their passion of teaching and chess beyond the borders of the chess academy. Tshepo teaches chess at a school in Brakpan (a nearby suburb) and to private students. Anthony goes to the nearby Khangezile Primary school, where children remain after school to attend his lessons.
Anthony quotes “charity begins at home but it doesn’t end there.”
They tell me about the educational qualities of chess. Tshepo recalls the effect chess had on his high school career, he noticed that chess playing was improving his performance in mathematics, to such an extent that he received an 'A' in matric for it.
Anthony tells us about the importance of sport at school, it is one of the major elements that attract children to school, it gives them confidence in themselves.
He has big dreams, one of them is to extend the the chess academy into an after school education center where children have the space to do their homework and get assistance for subjects they are not particularly strong in. The other one is to see his students travel overseas to play tournaments, himself having never traveled that far.
Tshepo is an avid reader and we talk about the possibilities of bringing books and reading
into the academy.
By listening to these two men I realize how strong and important education and youth is to them. It is not just about getting good marks at school but about preparation for life as an adult. Those of us who have walked some of this journey, know that it is full of challenges which we are often not equipped for.
The ability to strategise, to be able to foresee the effects of choices, in times of decision making; to be able to know when to give something up and when to hang on to it.
Every game of chess is that and more and it has no detrimental effects if one doesn't win.
I believe that Anthony Shoba has linked chess with life and has therefore has so many children attending the chess academy. They are there, religiously, after school everyday playing game after game.

Anthony has shown them something that they know makes them stronger, he has shown them that each of them has a powerful mind.
It is 3 o'clock and Anthony is getting ready to go to Khangezile Primary to give a class on chess. He received a demonstration board from Carnival City (a local casino) to take with him. I ask if I may join him, he welcomes me.
We arrive at the school, there are about 20 students, mostly girls, all engaged in a game of chess. He takes out the demonstration board and the lesson begins, he is teaching in Zulu and in English, demonstrating 'castelling' on the board , he asks “why do we castle?”
A student puts his hand up in the air, and answers “to protect the king”.
Anthony is a natural teacher, it is evident that he is respected and reciprocally respects the youngsters, he has their undivided attention and interest...
I take some photos and, say ' salagahle' and leave feeling inspired with the knowledge that there are some amazing people in this world who are following their hearts and are sharing their dreams with others.

Launch

The launch of our projects happened this Saturday. I tried to write a blog on Sunday and found myself unable to do so.
The effects of the past weeks and the excitement of Saturday had not yet settled.
So here it is in retrospect...
Our work at the Chesspark in the early hours of the day was still not complete, the screed around the checkered board was wet and therefore could not be cleaned to it's glory, the tiles also needed some serious de-cementing. The tent for the chess tournament was in the process of being assembled and Anthony was busy organizing the day ahead.
The event started at the beerhall, at about 10:30 am, the structure is not used to being used at such early hours of the morning. It was shy against the blue backdrop of the sky...Physically it also possesses a nakedness which completely transforms into a playsuit as the sun starts it's westward journey.
We the went on a procession to all five of the individual projects which ended at the Chess Academy. By this time the chess tournament had started, the 46 players were organized at tables sitting under the canopy of the tent. The new shiny fibreglass pieces were set up on the chess board, waiting for the game to begin....
Anthony's dream had come true, the chess parks very own first tournament was in action... there was a break for the speeches. Anthony made us all aware of the interesting connection between Job Maseko, ( a south african soldier who had fought in the second world war and sunk a German submarine) after whom the street which the chess park borders is named after, and the funders of the project, the German humanitarians of the IFG organization. Talk about 6 degrees of separation...
We ate, boerewors with coleslaw and pap, prepared by Anthony's sisters Zanele and Thembi, and headed back to the beerhall....
Now that the sun was on it's way down, the beerhall had transformed into animated shadows and sounds created by the multitudes of children. It was overwhelming, the energy, the children were in a state of ecstasy, a giant playground was at their disposal and they were loving it with a passion...
A basket ball tournament was in action, music was playing from the first floor, numerous games were in place, incomprehensible by the adults yet fully felt....
Being a member of the chesspark group I take my hat off to the beerhall group...What they did there was cosmetic, practical yet most importantly they resuscitated the the spirit of place...
Not only that, they exorcised it from it's complex past, and it's violent activities into a space of play and positivity...
They had a lot of opposition from a number of bodies, yet their initial idea of playplace survived this and I believe it is through their conviction and suffering that the results have been and continue to be so positive...
There is a lesson to be learnt here, in terms of design and following through against all odds....
What I also loved about the beerhall group is that they represented and were a voice for the children without complicating it with the ego based ideas that grown ups tend to have....There was something very intuitive going on there, they took risks. From an outsiders point of view, I believe that their team was consolidated.... I would be interested to know how their team worked, how it was organized.
As for the chesspark, in many ways we had an easier brief, it was defined for us. Anthony had a master plan, we were there to execute it, which we did. Although the chessboard is an almost two dimensional space, it started underground... Most of us had never had the responsibility of starting a
site. It was not unlike picking up a pen for the first time and drawing. To dig the 52 square meter cavity into the ground 500mm deep, believe it or not, took courage....For Ma shobas shop and sign to rise 3 meters off the ground took courage....
We were not not alone, there was Solomon and Silias-Sunnyboy, the builders, and Phillip the welder who captained these structures into existence..
Without the volunteers and Anthony we would not of completed them in time. Ahaka, Karabo, Sifiso, Tom and myself were there to provide anything and everything that was necessary, from the physical labor to the vast amounts of materials which were needed.
Our group de-consolidated towards the completion of the elements as there was little planning of the launch from our side. That responsibility was predominantly taken by Anthony, Hannah, Peter and Tseleng....
Today is Tuesday, 3 days after the opening of the sites...I decided to go back to Kwathema as I had a feeling that there was something incomplete...not sure what it was I went anyway....

Cradle to Grave

This has been an awsum experience. You guys really dd a great job and I am proud to have been a part of it.
I was quite fascinated by the way you coordinated everything. There was no outright leader by\ut you all knew what roles you had to play and stuck to them, making everything run smoothly. I know you feel you could have done better, perhaps, but what you left us with is amazing. I will keep everyone posted about how things are going this side.

the launch was great, you guys are awsum!!!

reflections

i woke up this morning feeling lighter, with a smile on my face. i felt confident that we had succeeded in what we had set out to do. in retrospect, the launch didn’t perform as planned, but the organic evolution from what we had organized into what it rather wanted to become was satisfying. the children had delighted our jungle gym – and that was what we had strived for all along.

my family arrived at 10am and we set out on our way to kwathema. the drive was familiar and strange. i talked them through the project as we drove.

its our time. mr cindy was on site, watering. to my amazement, the whole structure was animated with little moving bodies. the activation of our space brought warmth to my body, all the while aching from the strangely situated bruises i had acquired along our turbulent journey.
it finally became clear to me. the success of this project was not by any means based upon the realization of ifg ulm’s designing politics brief, nor upon hannahs ephemeral agendas, and not even upon our group’s sometimes controlling and most-times sensible and aesthetic considerations. its success was based upon the subsequent appropriation of the space. our space. the community’s acceptance of it, in order to permit expressions of liberty and individuality.
what we strived for was a mouldable place; a jungle gym. an open-endedness rather than a prescription – a place where people would have a significant degree of agency over their environment.

today, a certain spirit was reincarnated, resuscitated. the little bodies energized with life, excitement, relief, liberation. their spirits lifted the heavy, smoky clouds of struggle, more so than the trails of traditional incense ever would, all swept away by the ever-persistent gushes of wind; that same wind that carried their unassuming kites across kwathema’s sunny skies.

initiations

A roof wetting is the end of the process of the design of a building. In recent times it suggests the passing over of the building from the control of the architect and builders to its owners. The practice apparently came from a medieval custom of throwing a party when the main roofbeams had been lowered together to meet. But there’s also the belief that after a roof was finished, the men would all drink a lot, climb the roof, undo their breeches, and collectively test its resistance to liquid. In Africa, new buildings are greeted with parties and acknowledgments to their ancestors.

Most cultures leave buildings to decay when their life is over. But sometimes there are more abrupt endings. In African practices of inititiation, the hut used to shelter initiates is burned down after they leave.

The beer hall has been initiated in this way before, in 1976, when the youth of KwaThema set it alight in protest against the state’s monopolist control of alcohol sales, and the destructive social patterns of institutionalized drinking.

By burning herbs gently in the corners of the building, the students and community suggested that the building was being renewed, while recalling, through the trails of smoke, some sort of connection to its previous lives.

The chess park is sited next to what was planned as a buffer zone to separate white owned land from the township. The symbolism of chess suggests both the blurring that warfare can bring about and the possibility of erasure, of one space being taken over by another. The resurgence of the little park around the chess board as a vibrant public space on Saturday was a vivid illustration of how the non-spaces of the modern apartheid city, spaces designed to separate communities and water down urban friction, contain the potential for a rich public life.

The launch on Saturday doesn’t end the KwaThema Project, but it marks a moment where the projects designed and executed by the students shift their status. The event suggested an appropriation, an incipient life for the spaces, that will unfold in ways we haven’t predicted. Already little traces have been left: someone wrote FALLEN HEROES on the road outside the beer hall, and already, someone else called for that same person to be arrested for recycling the beer crates.

The KwaThema project is a sort of initiation for the Wits students because in becoming an architect, you're considered wet behind the ears until you get your first building built. So the cause for celebration is multiplied.

I guess the conclusion this brings me to is the sense that you just had to be there. It was a great day in a wonderful project. We'll post all the thank yous over the next week when we finally recover.

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)