What a nice start and surprise: at We can Woman Development Centre the project team was greeted with dancing and singing! Wearing community face masks added to the colourful dressing. And luckily, excitement was expressed through clapping and cheering, too, because during COVID-19 the many smiles are unfortunately hidden. However, we had made friends already and could drive on with our trip through the study area.
For me it was my first closer look at a dramatically growing small town in a former homeland of South Africa. I learned about areas where people had already built houses which are now abandoned and falling apart. Reason was that the land had been handed over without the knowledge of the land owner. Actually, many of the houses next to the roads, on which we drove, looked either unfinished or uninhabited. But the latter might not be true; it depends on the time of day how many people you see outside. And I am sure, the more often we will visit the place the more we will learn about the lives of the people struggling to make a living in these peri-urban neighbourhoods.
Continue reading “Reflections on our First WoPedyP Workshop in Mankweng (22-25 Nov 2021)”