"This is Lovely," Tony says...

A vague smell of cooking oil wafts through the air. I am on my way to the Denver squatter camp with Tony Lopes, who runs his bakkie on rancid cooking oil instead of petrol.  We are going to visit Nomsa Ximba. Tony wants to take measurements and check out the possibilities for building one of the small geysers he constructs from two liter coke bottles and tetrapak cartons. The tetrapak cartons absorb the heat and the coke bottles retain the heat, “like a car when you leave it in the sun,” he explains.  Cold water sinks and hot water rises and goes into a water container at the top of the system.

Nomsa meets us on the Malvern side of the railway track and we drive together into the industrial area where the Denver squatter camp is located. It is not clear how many people live there. Nomsa estimates 5,000.

Water is gushing down the slope leading to the shacks, apparently from a burst pipe.  “The good thing about this,” Tony says to Nomsa, “is that vegetables love this water. You can plant vegetables, Nomsa.”

Two municipal workers are cleaning refuse from the river of water. We make our way down the slope, past the metal pit toilets, towards Nomsa’s shack. I have the impression of going down into a pit. Children gather around, touching my legs, clutching my hands.  We pass women washing in plastic buckets and unemployed men sitting around in groups.

Nomsa’s shack consists of two rooms constructed from planks of wood and chipboard, with a metal door and a thick, black plastic roof.  A painted sign on the door proclaims that the occupants are Shembe followers.

Inside the shack is meticulously neat and clean but dark and airless. There is one stool to sit on. The walls are pasted with  advertising inserts from newspapers and  magazine pictures.  “This is lovely,” Tony says. Outside he walks around the shack inspecting the movement of the sun and the possibilities for supporting a water container on the side of the shack. 

For over two years Nomsa has worked as a volunteer two mornings a week in the Rhodes Park Library organic vegetable garden, which Tony started a couple of years ago in collaboration with the librarian.  Large bags of vegetables from the garden are donated to Noah’s Ark, an NGO based in Malvern, that offers after school support to orphaned and vulnerable children from the Malvern, Denver and Kensington areas.  Nomsa works at Noah’s Ark as a Child Activity Coordinator for R 1,100 per month.  Her work  involves cooking for the 128 children aged between 8-18 who come to the centre every week day, and then helping them to develop skills through play.

She worked as a volunteer for Noah’s Ark for a year and a half before getting a salary.  A large part of her work at that time was to comb the area to identify needy, orphaned and vulnerable children.  All the children suffer from hunger and malnutrition. A spread of other problems emerge during play, including rape, sexual abuse, violence in the home.

Tony helped Noah’s Ark to start a vegetable garden first, then when the Rhodes Park garden was started, Nomsa came to help him there.  They make a very vibrant, dynamic team. Tony arranged for Nomsa to do a permaculture course at the Siyakana Food Gardens, and through Noah’s Ark she completed a six month course in Victim Empowerment.

Sadly, Noah’s Ark will be closing down at the end of September due to lack of funds.  Nomsa is not sure what she is going to do.  Tony is looking for another partner to donate the produce from the Rhodes Park vegetable garden to. 

When we speak about this, there is a sense of sadness and regret and some worry about the future.

Nomsa gives Tony R 200 for the materials to build the geyser.  “It costs more than this,” he tells me. It is difficult because there is such poverty but I have to take some money to cover the costs”.

On the way back to Rhodes Park, where my car is parked, Tony shouts a greeting to a woman handing out pamphlets at the traffic lights.  She is an emaciated looking woman and it is evident that life has struck her a cruel blow.  “She is an amazing woman from Zimbabwe,” Tony tells me.  “She has a bit of a drinking problem, but I learned so much from her.  When she helped me in the garden, I noticed that she ate everything that everyone else threw away. I asked her about it and she taught me that nettles and even the leaves of black jacks and other weeds are very, very nutritious.”