Jane B erg
P H O TO G R A P H Y
Contents
2 Community Gardens
8 NGO Events
10 Portraits
12 Education
16 Fashion
“A good photograph is one that communicates a fact, touches the heart and leaves the viewer a changed person for having seen it. It is, in a word, effective.� Irving Penn
20 Pets
22 Arts & Culture
Community Gardens
2 2
3
4
5
6
7
NGO Events
Makana SHARP! A GUIDE TO LIFE IN MAKANA Grocott’s Mail
8
THE BIG PICTURE
6 MARCH 2015
Rezeena Ramall and other students from Jameson House bead ‘Give Five’ bracelets for sale at the Day Kaif, at Rhodes University. Residences compete to raise funds for the Give Five campaign as the residence that earns the most money, also wins a flat screen television. The Give Five campaign raises funds for financially needy Rhodes students. The photo was chosen to represent last week’s photo competition theme, ’Acts of Kindness’. Read about this week's competition and theme below. Photo: Jane Berg
Enter the Grocott's Mail PHOTO COMPETITION:
9
Portraits
10
11
Education
12
13
16
PHOTO STORY
16
Grocott’s Mail 2 OCTOBER 2015 PHOTO STORY
Grocott’s Mail 2 OCTOBER 2015 Grocott’s Mail 2 OCTOBER 2015
PHOTO STORY
17
Above and below: Pupils work to scrub the toilets and sinks at Andrew Moyake.
The single functioning toilet available for pupils at Andrew Moyake. The toilet is used by more than 200 pupils at the school and has no door.
The single functioning toilet available for pupils at Andrew Pupils are given gloves and brooms to clean the toilets at Andrew Moyake. Moyake. The toilet is used by more than 200 students at the school and has no door.
The blocked drain at Andrew Moyake. The municipality has said that they will attend to the blockages at the school.
Mbulelo Lipile and Liyema Lipile make plans for the school focus group at their home in Grahamstown. All photos: Jane Berg
A pupil at the sink in the only toilet used by the learners at Andrew Moyake, Grahamstown. According to staff at the school the strain on the toilet is too great and the sink is often blocked.
BRINGING DIGNITY TO MAKANA SCHOOLS
Photos and story by JANE BERG
“W
e don’t use toilets,” said Akhona Cibi, a Grade 12 student at Nathaniel Nyaluza Ss School. “We do have toilets but we don’t use them because they are out of order.” Many bathroom facilities at schools in Grahamstown East are either permanently locked or dysfunctional, field workers at Water for Dignity found in a recent investigation. “We wait till 2 o’clock, then we go home, there are toilets there,” said William Dube, a Grade 7 student at Andrew Moyake Public School. “If someone wants to help himself now, he goes behind the school to where there are some bushes and goes there.” Vandals target the metal
14
taps of the school sinks and the copper links for the toilet mechanisms, and in the process many sinks and systems are severely damaged. “We found one school in a critical situation. That was Andrew Moyake, where over 200 students were using one toilet,” said Water for Dignity coordinator Mbulelo Lipile. The bathroom had been for disabled pupils. It had no door, the sink was blocked and it was overflowing. “Because the school has no security at all, the vandals just get in,” said Andrew Moyake teacher Nomfuneko Royi. “But also there is water coming up from the ground and it blocks the toilet, we have told the municipality but they have done nothing,” said Royi. “We made a plea to the department
and they said they would fix the problem. The guy who had the tender came, but he said there was not enough money,” said Royi. “Since 2011 we have been waiting, but they keep saying we do not qualify, as the school has low numbers and they are going to start with the school that has big numbers”, she said. Water for Dignity approached the Department of Education which has said Andrew Moyake must use the maintenance budget they have been allocated, as the department does not budget to repair vandalised infrastructure. “Because of the critical situation we found at Andrew Moyake, we decided to change our focus and see what
An assortment of items found in a blocked sink at Andrew Moyake.
we could do to implement an emergency plan at the school,” said Lipile. The Water for Dignity team formulated an action plan which involved in-depth questionnaires for the pupils and teachers. These would be followed by a focus group with the parents, students, members of staff and the School Governing Body. “I was most impressed to see so many parents there,” said Water For Dignity field worker Liyema Lipile. “And that they said how we are not like other people who just come into the school without consulting with them.” One of the outcomes of the focus group was the conclusion that little could be done until the bathrooms received a major overhaul.
Water for Dignity members set about looking for donations and engaging with the municipality and the Community Works Programme. Rotary, Pick n Pay and Pennypinchers provided sponsorship and materials for the cleaning day. The Makana Directorate of Engineering and Infrastructural Services has agreed to look into the water leakage problems at Andrew Moyake. On Thursday 3 September, armed with plastic gloves, brooms and buckets of soapy water, students, parents, the Community Works Programme, Water for Dignity and School Governing Body members transformed a block of 15 toilets. Sinks and toilet bowls were scrubbed, the floors mopped
and walls washed and painted. The sink in the disabled toilet was unblocked and the door repaired. The board arranged for a fence to be erected surrounding the building. “We have fixed the toilet systems with only plastic parts, so that the vandals won’t be interested,” said Mbulelo Lipile. “We are also planning to install temporary taps out of recycled plastic bottles soon.” Water for Dignity will work with students to keep the facilities in good condition. Water For Dignity is a community-based research project working in association with the Institute for Water Research (IWR) at Rhodes and the Unilever Centre for Environmental Water Quality.
A toilet in the closed building at Andrew Moyake. Many of the sinks and toilet systems have been severely damaged.
Members of the Community Works Programme (CWP) help clean around the block of toilets at Andrew Moyake.
After the floors are swept and mopped students and CWP workers painted the bathroom walls at Andrew Moyake. The paint was donated by Pennypinchers in Grahamstown.
Students, parents, SGB, CWP and Water for Dignity members pose for a photo after cleaning and repairing the toilets at Andrew Moyake.
15
16
17
Fashion
16
17
18
19
Pets
20
21
Arts & Culture
22
23
Arts
24
25
Jane Berg janebergphotography@gmail.com instagram @jane.b.pics (001) 281 876 7410