community*
A brighter
FUTURE
story wendy jackson pictures rogan ward
T
he community of the Lower Molweni Valley and the social justice outreach of Kloof’s St Agnes Church have forged into the organisation Philangethemba. Computer training officer at Philangethemba campus, Siya Khubeka, is gifted with vision and IT expertise. Ross Norton of St Agnes has long realised Siya’s and the community’s need for optimum Wi-Fi connectivity. “Now with lockdown, as online has moved from the fringe to mainstream, the digital divide has become clearer,” explains Ross – a chemical engineer who has been involved with Philangethemba, which means “living through hope”, for 15 years. For Siya and Ross the need to provide connectivity for the Philangethemba community became paramount, and innovative problem solving was imperative. Sharing this challenge with friend and colleague Brad Leggat, a mechanical engineer and programmer/coder, Ross appealed for ideas. Brad suggested a pole with line of sight from Kloof to the computer centre at Philangethemba was needed. Ross followed Telkom’s line when they introduced fibre to Kloof, where he lives. Searching, he ended up at Telkom’s own pole. Standing on an old tree log, he established the vital line of sight. After bringing it to the attention of Telkom’s technician, Vincent Pheiwae, things started happening. “Within a week,” Ross relates, “Telkom had erected a second pole next to their own.” What they needed next were two microwave dishes. Brad invited his friend, Rob Goldblatt, whose business involves design and assembly of electronic
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AMIDST LOSS, DEVASTATION AND DESPAIR DURING THE COVID PANDEMIC, CREATIVITY, INNOVATION, COMMUNITY COLLABORATION AND HOPE IS ALSO PRESENT
circuits, to join the team. What about power? The team decided on a solar panel and battery. Ross’s home became an assembly plant, with Siya doing the welding single-handedly. “On probably the hottest Saturday in February of this year, we climbed our
pole with a long ladder to assemble our dish and panel,” says Ross. Two days later Telkom connected the fibre. Siya, who had already assembled the dish at Philangethemba, called via Skype. All four were moved to cheer. Siya, a man with a huge heart and
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