A group of four women that started cleaning a dumping site in the area of Town Two, Khayelitsha, are pinching themselves after being awarded for their selfless deeds.
The women have been cleaning their area and planting flowers, to beautify the dumping site and their efforts did not go unnoticed.
They won the inaugural #cocreate Blue-Green Cities Design Awards on Thursday 27 October, hosted in Cape Town.
The women’s project slogan is “Indawo Abantu Injongo” eKhayelitsha, an initiative that has transformed the neglected street into a beautified, water-sensitive design feature supported by the local community.
The project incorporates waste removal, transformational art and green space creation, forming a water-sensitive rain garden design that protects surface and groundwater systems and promotes community engagement.
This community initiative, supported by The Umvoto Foundation (TUF), recently scooped three awards in the inaugural #cocreate Blue-Green Cities Design Awards.
It not only won the community-based project category, but also the most valued water-sensitive innovation and most valued project: water champion.
One of the founders, Dawn Adams, said the aim has always been to make the place “beautiful” and act as an example for others to “take care” of their environments.
“People are no longer dumping waste as they used to before because they can see what we are doing,” she said. “Some can see the hard work we have put in to make this place as beautiful as it is and they respect that.”
Adams said residents in other communities can look at the work they have done and try to emulate it for the benefits of their respective areas.
Speaking about the accolades, she told City Vision it came as a “surprise” because they worked without expecting any returns.
“The win came as an exciting surprise as we did not foresee it. All we were doing was making a change in our area without seeing that some were taking note. We’re excited about it.”
TUF hosted a water stewardship training course on how the earth, water and science interact. One of the founding members, Busiswa Nomyayi, attended this course and learned about the connection between stormwater and waste impacts.
The group began doing regular clean-ups on their street, removing about 60-80 bags of waste each time.
Removing building rubble was the biggest challenge as it was difficult to remove and expensive. With TUF’s assistance, the group developed an innovative design to repurpose the rubble to create mosaiced concrete benches.
TUF also collaborated with the City of Cape Town to host a training workshop on recycling material collected during clean-ups.
Art is a key design component of this initiative and is an effective way to engage with communities to raise awareness of the importance of the environment and water systems. This was achieved through culturally- appropriate designs of murals and mosaiced benches.
A rain garden was also constructed along the sidewalk where waste was often dumped illegally. This garden consists of colourful indigenous plants and vegetables, with plans to further extend it. TUF and the group are also developing a vegetable garden at the adjacent primary school.
