Production, production and a lot of production

Today we were designing the topic page. It seemed easy but was far from it. As a group we had not sat down and spoken about how we wanted the page to look like. We knew what we wanted on it but the design was the last thing on our minds.

It took us about 30minutes to map out what we wanted the topic page to look like...I personally was not satisfied but time was not our friend. I sat with the web designer and started saying what it is we wanted. Design is not easy.

It is so easy to pen things down on paper and envision this master piece but when it comes down to technology, many things have to be taken in to consideration; the colour scheme of the actual website, the fact that you can't re size YouTube video's, the size of you pictures, text and so forth.

I had to cut some stories out of the topic pages and I am sure some of my group members are not going to be happy but they will understand. The layout of our topic page is done but I think it is so basic. I really wish we could do more with it but in a day we can only do so much.

Today I learnt to appreciate the work that goes behind designing a news website, it is not easy. You have to consider your strongest story and you should not have too much multimedia...it does not look good.

The end is close...the text is done!

I sat, I wrote, she edited and Silver Town text is ready to upload.

Wow I never thought I would be done with that part of the project. Intensive interviews, being sent from pillar to post and late nights trying to tell the story as is.

I won't lie I loved it. It was a learning experience and more. I realised that if you ask the right questions you will get your story. Government officials have a way of digging their own graves without knowing it. I think their ego gets in the way. Well it worked for me.

So my article has both sides of the story; the forgotten people of Silver Town and the "hard" working government trying to get them homes. The great thing is that my opinion of the whole situation is not there...people just spoke.

From the article one will see that South Africa has a long way to go when it comes to providing proper homes for millions and millions of people. That I think is the lesson I got from working on Silver Town. For improvements to be made...some people will have to suffer.

Unfortunately those that are always on the suffering side are the poor people. The gap between the "haves" and the "have not's" in this country is far from being closed. Money makes the world go round...period.

My next focus is my audio. My multimedia story is on a creche in Setjwetla where children are taught water safety. Considering that they are exposed to the very dirty Jukskei daily, I thought this would be interesting to see how children are informed.

It is a lighter piece compared to Silver Town but it is relevant. Children suffer the most in such conditions, so watching this one woman try to protect them from the harsh reality they live in is inspiring.

And on one of my visits there I got the children to scream out "Tokiso we love you"....wonderful, *sigh*

I asked, they got angry, now they want to meet :-)

This folks, is a makeshift bathroom for a family too big to use the one room shack for bathing.

Silver Town is really keeping me awake. I got a hot email today from the people on top at the Alexandra Renewal Project (ARP). I emailed them some questions like they requested and from my questions they state that I am biased and lack objectivity.

Well I asked the questions based on what the people of Silver Town and their lawyer told me. Anyway I got what I wanted from them...an interview for Thursday morning. From the email I got I better go to that interview prepared or I am going to get eaten alive.

I honestly want to understand how people can be allowed to live like that. Fair enough the people of Silver Town do not have it as bad as their neighbours in Setjwetla; they have electricity and a bit of breathing space. But one needs to remember that these people do not come from one roomed shacks. Yes their previous homes were not great but Silver Town is doing them no favours.

Another thing I need to understand is based on safety. How safe is it to have a small group of shiny shacks with electricity placed right at the foot step of a huge community of dirty shacks with no electricity?

Maybe ARP are right, I am biased. Maybe their side of the story will make sense of this situation. Maybe they have a really good reason for placing people in a transit camp for more than three years. Maybe they have a really good reason they place these people next to a river that has a history of flooding. Maybe they have a very good reason why their communication lines with the people of Silver Town are so bad.

Well...I am going to work on my questions and try my best not to take sides. I need to go to that office with an open mind and prepared for anything. I should by now be prepared for anything...I have seen a makeshift bathroom...anything is possible.

Living like pigs...

These past days I have spent going through the many documents Ellen Chauke has provided me with. I am also in possession of a Wits students post grad paper which has a section dealing with the people of Silver Town.

I am shocked to read that the local government had to be forced by the courts to find an alternative home for the people living in Silver Town. They believed that these people were not their problem because they were on private property and this was a "private matter".

What a load of crap. The Alexandra Renewal Project is a government initiative and that piece of land was to be used to build a mall that would enhance the township.

I still have to understand where is the logic in building a mall for a community that does not have basic services such as a decent home.

Anyway fast ward to 2009...these people are living in shacks that the local government provided until they provide them with homes. This temporary plan has turned out to be more permanent than the community would have liked.

My last visit to Silver Town I saw pigs. Apparently these pigs that live off the communities sewerage sometimes raid the camp and eat of the small vegetable gardens that some residences started. I wonder if any of the people heading the Alexandra renewal project would live here...I really do not think so.

I tried getting a hold of them but the numbers I have are always busy, so tomorrow I am just going to raid the offices. I want to know what are they planning to do with these people and when? It is unfortunate that as they try and make Alex look better they are allowing people to live like pigs in the process.

The forgotten people of Silver Town

As you drive out of Setjwetla squatter camp on your far right lies clean looking shacks made out of silver corrugated iron enclosed by a fence with security protection.

First time I saw these homes I wondered what makes these people different to the people living in Setjwetla as these are also shacks by the Jukskei. Ellen Chauke answered, "This is a camp and we are meant to be moving...but it's been three years now."

Have these people been forgotten? Why are these people still here? Where do they come from? These are the questions I want answered and many more. I got court documents from the Ellen Chauke the community chairperson who has been at logger heads with the government for years. She showed me pictures of where she stayed before and the other community members. They did not stay in big expensive houses but they had decent homes far from a dirty river.

Silver Town does not have proper sanitation, the shacks are only big enough for one person with limited furniture and schools are far for most children. Nothing about Silver town says this is home but for the past three years the people living here have made it home not knowing if the proper homes they were promised will ever materialise.

Living next to the Jukskei river cannot be easy...the smell of the pollution, floods and the bad service delivery. One lady by the name of Margaret complained that it gets lonely as she had to send her grandchildren away as she no longer has space for them, "I am on pension and when you are alone you think too much...it's bad, really bad," she said.

Silver Town is going to demand a lot of my time because there is so much secrecy about it. The authorities throw you off and give you the wrong ward numbers when you ask them about Silver Town. I am going to spend some time going through the documents that Chauke gave me and choosing pictures that show where they come from and deciding on the type of pictures that show where they are now.

I have renewed energy for this project, especially now that I found a great story.

Day 5 and 6: Research, research and more research

Reporting on children is not as easy and simple as I thought it would be. There I was sitting behind my computer googling everything that involves children living by the Jukskei river...not much.

So I had to focus my search and try and find an angle. I then searched for institutions and organisations that are for children near the Jukskei river. I looked for clinics, children's homes and creches.

These were a bit easier to find. Everybody I called proved to be of no help to me. Luckily I found one lady, Portia Mongake who runs Abangani Nkosini/Alexandra Children's home. The following day I was in her home speaking to her.

Mongake's children's home shares a yard with two other organisations, a surgery and creche, and they are not connected in anyway. As we talk there are children all over her, we are sitting in the main house, (shack), that serves as an office, play area, kitchen, living room and bedroom. She takes care of more than 200 children and lives with 10.

Most of the children have been orphaned by HIV/AIDS, some their parents are too sick to take of them and the others the parents are unemployed. She provides food for all the children and makes sure they get funding for education and clothes.

This woman is not rich but she shares the little she has with the children. She tells us that things are not easy but she believes in the culture of sharing and teaches that to the children. The children do not have it easy and tells us a story about how one of the children was raped by an uncle...this makes her teary.

Mongake is not the only woman with a story.

Ellen Chauke was moved out of her home in inner Alex and moved to the banks of Jukskei into a very small shack. Where she used to stay now stands a mall. She was promised a home three years ago. Silver Town is home to many people with the same story as Chauke. It shocks me how people can be moved from their homes and put into shacks for a mall...where is the logic in that.

This projects is an eye opener and I know that there are so many stories like these therefore I am challenged to write these people stories in a way that gives a platform to their problems.

Day 4- News diary meetings

The real work started today. We had two meetings, one meeting was amongst the different groups as they set up their news diary and the other with our assigned mentor.


In the first meeting, each member had to say what they plan on doing regarding their given subject. My group, we are focusing on people living by the river, we had plenty of ideas; the floods, the dead people found in the water, the diseases, the agriculture, lifestyle change amongst the different classes, gender issues and family issues were top of our list.


We kind of had it figured out and gave each other ideas on how to incorporate multimedia with our different stories. Some of the ideas were better told using still graphics, others just text and others just video. With some of the stories we thought of ways to incorporate the different media.


The second meeting was with our mentor, Margaret Renn. She took our ideas, reworked them and gave them a better focus. I am now researching on children living by the river.


I find the topic interesting because children do suffer the most when it comes to pollution, poverty and all other social ills BUT I feel that it is overdone. Hence in my research my challenge is to find something different about the plight of children and find a different way of telling it.


It was either women, children or stay at home fathers staying by the river. I know my bias is very obvious but we all have our passion in life. I would love to some how incorporate the plight of men who are raising children in these conditions.


And yes the rich will be represented. And I will also explore storm water drains along the Jukskei River where children play not only in Alex.