back in joburg

Time for last minute connections, visits......preparing to head back to the US! Finally stationary, working in Mandlas office....see how much typing I can get done before heading back to work.....

Project Build and the St. Clemens Home Based Care Center

This was my final site visit for Durban. One of the project managers at Project Build took me to see a clinic/community care center that they built 3 years ago for a retired nurse. Ms. Mlambo is one of the grandmothers of the community and she started the St. Clemens center in 2001. This project has been the most comprehensive community health center that I have seen so far. There are spaces/programs for economic development, farming, computer training, HIV Counseling and testing, food distribution...and the list goes on.....They are not a full running clinic, yet, but the Dept of Health is working with them to get a volunteer doctor to visit during the week. I popped into one of their home based care training centers to find a room full of women being trained on treating people with AIDS......

Tomorrow I will take a break before my flight to Capetown on Thursday........

Zimsele! Get Ready!

"Yazi Isimo Sakho" - Know Your Status

vacant site for first Zimisele building.

Visited another township/informal settlement today with a Project Officer from the AIDS Foundation. Umlazi is located southeast from the Durban City Center. The AIDS Foundation is working with a group of nurses (Zimisele) who are trying to formalize their home based care project for people infected with HIV/AIDS. They are presently renting offices and intend to build an admin building for their organization. We visited a site that the City will donate to them to build their own office space. I spoke with them to get a sense of the type of "starter" building that they want to develop and how they see this project changing in the future. It is a small site, that they currently are using as a garden and kitchen. They have a full financial committment from "Operation Jump Start" - another foundation that funds building projects.

Zimisele is currently a small community based organization, but with the help of the AIDS Foundation they will be able to apply for grants in order to expand on the services that they offer community members. I attended a grant writing workshop for the women of Zimisele by the AIDS Foundation. These women have the basic infrastructure in place to do great community work. I would love to help them in the development of their first community center.

Zulu Reed Dance Festival

Today was by far the highlight of my whole trip! I attended the annual Zulu Reed Dance Festival in Zululand. Thje festival occurs every year in the grounds of the King of Zululand. All of the virgins of the surrounding villages come to the Kings palace and dance for him. Traditionally, this is when the King chooses his new bride, but custom has changed and now it is just a cultural festival and an opportunity for the community to celebrate.

There were SO many women and young girls dancing in traditional garb and beautiful beads. Each woman/girl holds a reed that is indigenous to this area. Some girls come from as far as Botswana to participate in this festival. The speakers stressed the importance of young women maintaining their virginity and being aware of the dangers of the AIDS virus. It was simply amazing!

The trip took us four long hours to travel from Durban city to the heart of Zululand. It was well worth the trip. On the way we hit some road blocks.........pretty funny....this cow was not about to mooooove for anyone!

East Coast Architects and The Blue Roof Clinic

Yebo! - Yes....in Zulu

Today was pretty good. Derek Keerden -Principal of East Coast Architects took me and some staff on an architectural tour of Durban. Most of his design work is in poor neighborhoods, and so we visited three projects in two different townships. One project was done for Alyssa Keys' organization "Keep a Child Alive" - the clinic he designed "Blue Roof Clinic" seemed to be the most holistic project that I have seen thus far. It started as an abandoned warehouse and he transformed it into an ARV (Anti-retro viral) clinic and community center. The center has a library, community lab, pharmacy, counseling rooms and a large multipurpose room. The center was originally intended for children, but has had to change because of the need in the community.......We had a brief discussion about his experience working in poor communities.......his impression is that this kind of work is more challenging because you have to work on a really tight budget and therefore must be more creative with your resources.

His signature designs incorporate African based designs and materials and always have a component of open space for community gatherings.....I left inspired. Derek is pretty fearless and seems to be very comfortable in the rough and rugged townships of Durban. He claimed that he feels safer in a township than in a shopping mall....

The Architecture of Community Healing

Igama La Mi Ngingu Ifeoma - My name is Ifeoma......everyday i learn a little more Zulu:)

I just came back from a visit to "Gozololo" an orphanage and community center in the Kwamashu Township north of Durban city center. I have been told that this is THE toughest township in South Africa....either right above or right below Soweto in Joburg. It felt pretty peaceful to me while I was there. I went with a few of the community organizers that attended the Project Build workshop that I held yesterday. The Director of the center "Miriam Cele" is an amazing woman that works with a network of grandmothers in her township to provide help to orphaned children in her community. She works with grandmothers because AIDS is swiftly wiping out their children's generation leaving the grandmothers to care for their grandchildren. I am inspired by them because they are not held back by the fact that the government does not give them financial assistance. Through perseverance they were able to raise funds to develop three orphanages/community centers. Their hope is to build 50 more centers in all of the townships of Durban. These centers serve to connect the community to local health centers, and HIV/AIDS assistance. Each center is built incrementally and reflects their funding structure. As they aquire more grants the center grows. I attended one of their HIV/AIDS support groups to learn more about the work that they do..........talk about overcoming obstacles.......

on my way to the AIDS Foundation....

My trip to the AIDS Foundation of South Africa was great. I met with Mandla Nyuswa - a Project Officer who gave me some great insight into the types of programs that NGOs provide communities affected by AIDS. Most importantly we discussed the connection between architecture and organization management. Having a physical structure (and the design of the space) helps an NGO build capacity in a number of ways......

The Architecture of the Community Involvement Process

Sani Bona (hello) from South Africa!
2 hour trip yesterday to a community called Kranskop...north of Central Durban. Majority of the community is Zulu and we visited a high school in which Project build is constructing a new classroom. This was a really fun session for me to try out my community workshop tool.....legos....yes, the legos that you played with as a child. I used them with the students and it proved to be a great way to get the students to talk freely about their school and their community. I started off asking questions about how they felt about their school and about the main hospital in their community. There is a huge connection between health, education and community. Schools are used by hospitals and health centers as a way to reach the community. An NGO that works through the hospital often visits the school to provide HIV testing, awareness workshops, and training in health based fields. The school is also used by the community for church services, sports events, and community mtgs. After leaving the school I am left with the question....how do you combine the two.....create a place for health and education? Is there a need for a hybrid?.........i'll post fotos later....legos will luv it:)


Today I did a similar workshop with various stakeholders for a "Project Build" project. Community organizers, construction staff, architects and admin staff were involved in the meeting. I asked a series of questions that dealt with how the different stakeholders work together to help the community and to help each other build a project. In the end they expressed that the workshop was good for them to better understand their working relationships, and the challenges that they each face on a daily basis. A major challenge that seemed to come up was communication and funding. Communication between community members, organizers and builders. We strategized on different ways to improve that connection. ...........using legos was a great way to break the ice and allowed people to be free and open with how they expressed themselves.........it was a lot of fun..... Suzanne (Executive Director) has contacted me several times to express her gratitude for the workshop....apparently the workshop has helped her employees realize the importance of connecting with the communities that they serve........two thumbs up!

I am now at the office of an architect in Durban that uses alot of community workshops in their design process. East Coast Architects - I discovered them on the Architecture for Humanity website. They have done alot of work for Oprah's angel network....I have been told that they LOVE Oprah in South Africa...I wonder why.....back to the point...........East Coast Architects has done some amazing work involving community members in both a transparent design process, and in the building of a facility. They mentioned the importance of ceremonies in African culture and incorporating a ceremony in every part of the building process....brick making, foundation building, mural painting...etc....the more the community is involved the more sustainable the project can become...........so much good stuff.....

tomorrow I visit a AIDS orphanage, and a mtg with the AIDS Foundation.........should be good