pK in za

Part one of the project_KHAYELITSHA (pK) team has landed, and having just finished our first week I'll write about where we are at the moment. We just returned to our St James home from a full day in the township with our guide Loyiso. Nadeem, our unbelievably attentive--and hilarious--host dropped us off around 10am at the MonkeyBiz "Boat," the shipping container currently used by MonkeyBiz as a storage space and workplace for many of the local women bead artists. Yesterday we met many of these artists at the MonkeyBiz clinic in Cape Town, where we helped serve a little food and tag the beautiful dolls they had completed that week. Yesterday we also had the opportunity to meet with Barbara Jackson, Shirley Fintz, and Mathapelo Ngaka, the founders of MonkeyBiz, to show our current design plans and renderings and to talk about our upcoming work. Meeting these women was truly fabulous, as they all have such a passion for their work and very real ideas about the new center in Khayelitsha. I think our notions of the project were greatly informed and influenced by this visit.
Today as soon as we arrived on site we met Mathapelo's mother, who was equally warm and inspirational as she talked with us inside her home next door. From there Loyiso, a local who is experienced in agricultural and landscape projects (and who hopefully will be one of our collaborators on this project), took us all throughout the township, explaining both the newly planned and informal settlements as well as much of the culture of the area. When we finally spent some time on our site at the end of the day, I think we came to a better understanding of some of the challenges of the neighborhood, including the amount of trash, overbuilding of property lines, size limitations...but the bright bright African sun and the warmth of the neighborhood's people seem a good start to making the new center a success.
Okay, there's an initial basic run down. Now I have to get off our cozy studio floor to get ready for dinner in Kalk Bay with Cameron Sinclaire and a local (architect?) friend of his. He's been here for a few days also and is working on a project in Freedom Park, so it should be a great south-africa-is-incredible conversation. Our bed and breakfast is beyond amazing (fell asleep listening to the ocean last night), the weather has been lovely, and between rush hour martinis ($3!) up in cape town and dancing in a pool hall in the township today, we all can't wait to get going.