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South African Community Builders Exchange to Asia
20th
March 2000
House-builders from Cape Town's
urban poor communities (
Normana and Archie) plus NGO PEP support
(Shawn Cuff) were able to share their experiences
with community builders in India, Thailand, Cambodia and the Philippines
in an SDI - ACHR TAP Exchange 6th - 15th March 2000.
Most of the 7,0000 houses built by the South
African Homeless People’s Federation have been built by the
communities themselves with self help labour.
The model is effective and low cost and the Federation has been
able to build larger, better quality houses far cheaper than the private
sector - contractor induced government programmes.
To meet the demand and
increase the speed and scale of its work the Federation is experimenting
with building “guilds” - teams of community builders.
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Left:
Face to Face
discussions on community building, organising, savings and housing
loans between Khmers and South Africans at Teoul Samboe
relocation site Phnom Penh Cambodia - March 2000
Below: The team also visited community construction sites in
Thailand, India and the Philippines.
Coming Soon on the Exchange Calendar: Vietnam Face to Face
with Thailand and Surabaya, Indonesia.
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 click the
small pictures below to see a larger versions
South
Africans in Cambodia and Thailand
Below: Housing loans from the Urban Poor Development Fund established through a collaboration between ACHR, SUPF (the local Community
Savings Federation) and the Phnom Penh Municipality, enabled these houses to be
built at Beong Krapper and Toeul Somboe relocation sites.
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| Shell
- Toeul Somboe |
Concrete
& Brick |
$400
Loans 128 families |
Beong
Krapper |
Below: Thailand - At Samut Prakarn resettlement site in Bangkok: a
variety of housing built incrementally by community self help as well as through
contract labour .
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| Old materials |
Double concrete |
Envt improvements |
Wood and concrete |
Incrementally |
Below:
The Cape Town group met with a variety of non-building experiences as
well - eviction threats, relocation strategies, and the sheer energy of
the poor communities
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| Normana
(left) |
Shawn |
Archie |
in Phnom Penh |
The
group also spend part of their 12 day visit at building sites in Bombay with the
help of SPARC. MM and the National Slum Dwellers Federation.
In the Philippines they spent time with Bill Keyes' Freedom to Build, Fr
Norberto and the Payatas community as well as holding discussions with Fr Jorge
Anzorena and others.
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