squatters' microenterprise: Johannesburg, South Africa FWD
Tom Boland (wgcp@earthlink.net)
Sun, 18 Jan 1998 04:12:31 -0800 (PST)
FWD http://www.wkkf.org/empire/?SubSystemID=3&ComponentID=1171
TRUST FOR THE FUTURE
The four Grasmere squatter camps, 40km from Johannesburg's
city center, border a highway leading to the interior of
South Africa. Yet they appear to exist in the middle of nowhere.
This isolation is compounded by problems of poverty,
malnutrition, and limited access to sanitation, water, and
electricity. Despite these adversities, the Grasmere
Community Development Trust continues to make steady
progress in its efforts to help the area's 31,000 people help
themselves.
One approach to development has been through
income-generating projects. The Trust solicited ideas -
rather than simply dictating them - and the response from
Residents proposed plans to make bricks, candles, painted
fabrics, knitted goods, and even processed meat.
A small brick-making plant, in the yard of Julia Mokwena's
home, shows how these ideas are becoming a reality. "We
never have a pile not sold," says worker Daniel Moleleki,
painstakingly manipulating a hand-operated machine that
mixes river sand, ash, and cement. "Each pile takes three to
four days to dry and the moment it is dry, it goes out on
orders," he says.
They work five to six days a week and make 140 bricks a
day. These are sold for R1.80 each (U.S. $.41), making a
profit of R51 a brick.
Like many small business enterprises, the project has great
potential, but also its share of problems. "If we had a bigger
machine with a generator, we would be able to make more.
Now we sell to buy raw materials and there is very little left
for us. And we can't deliver because we don't have a bakkie
(pick-up truck)," Moleleki said.
The fabric-painting group is another Trust-sponsored
business that's heading in the right direction. They
manufacture canvas bags and cloths imprinted with colorful
designs such as the indigenous South African guinea-foul
goods in one week and are starting to explore new markets
for their products.
A Successful Venture
Each of the income-generating projects has enjoyed some
degree of success. Yet the Grasmere Community
Development Trust's "greatest victory" is its clinic at
Weiler's Farm, housed in a converted shipping container.
The box-shaped steel structure provides a secure enclosure
where health care workers can examine patients and dispense
basic medication. In three years, it's grown from a small
asbestos hut serving a few people, to a facility where a
volunteer doctor and six community health workers can treat
100 people a day.
"We're better kitted out (equipped) than most provincial
clinics," Dr. Joyce Marshall says. "A lot of people from
outside the area come here because they think our treatment
is better." She says 50 percent of their work is curative. The
rest includes postnatal work, immunization, and family
planning.
A smaller shipping container behind the clinic houses the
nutrition unit. The unit teaches mothers how to feed their
families on a limited budget, and has been a boon for the
area's children. Now Trust members - based on suggestions
from previous clients - are trying to restructure the unit so
it can better meet local needs.
"Kids benefited from the unit, but their mothers felt they
were just sitting there. So we've tried to launch industries in
the nutrition unit to give the mothers a sense of satisfaction.
We're also looking at adult education as another way to
bring in mothers," said Barry Poppleton, former Trust
coordinator.
A Long Rocky Road Ahead
Adult education and the Business Support Group (BSG) are
coordinator, seeks to promote.
BSG involves making credit available to applicants who have
been screened by the trustees. The loans have to be repaid
with interest. The trust will offer training to those with a
viable business plan - one that includes a workable market
and employs local residents.
Although many roadblocks lie ahead, Sandy Nyoni, chair of
the Trust, believes perseverance will eventually lead to
meaningful results. "The informal settlement would be a
mess without the Trust," he says. "There are lots of needy
people and only this one organization serving the
community."
Many trustees are confident that, as the Trust grows and
develops with the people, absolute poverty and malnutrition
will become rare afflictions. Tredrae summarizes their
hopes. "What we're doing now is an investment that will pay
off in the future."
By Gillian Anstey
For Information
Dave Tredrae, Project Coordinator
Grasmere Community Health Trust
P.O. Box 680
Kiasha Park, 1829 South Africa