Amazing Recycled Shacks Of Mdantsane! A Photographic Journey Through The Township

 

My Home Is In N.U 6

"My home is in N.U 6. I want a better house but apart from that I don't wanna go anywhere else. I just want a better house!" 

Sometimes one sentence says enough. It says all there is to say.

When we started publishing the Mdantsane Way as a blog we thought initially of something like a " visual feast". It was not our intention to create a magazine that talks about who stole how much money and which organisations have corrupted government money the most.

Instead we wanted to leave a very strong visual impact for the readers inside and outside of South Africa by publishing images through which they can recognize their township. The Mdantsane Way was created as a site for seeing all the beautiful and interesting places and spots of Mdantsane live online. And our focus is on good and empowering stories.

Our archive has grown so much, that we will not run out of pictures for the next 5 years! And if we continue working as we do, we will achieve our goal of becoming the most extensive online photography documenatary and publication of Mdantsane ever.

What one can take home from these images and the sentence that was so well said by one of the owners in N.U 6 is: there is so much love in Mdantsane! The residents have a whole lot of love for their kazi!

Do It Yourself

Women are doing it for themselves! Well not everything, but more things lately!

Seen in N.U 6

The Unknown Artist Of N.U 5 - Or Do You Want To Remember Poverty?

Poverty does indeed have a face. And it is not a pretty one. You can recognize poverty even if it is in disguise. It is something in the attitude, the gestures, let's say the whole composure. Poverty leaves its mark on the mind of the ones affected by it. 

How would you like to remember poverty once it is over. Would you like to remember its face at all or simply close the lid over the box? Would you like to remember your parents poverty and their long and arduous walk to a better and more abundant life, that they swore to give to their children. Must the pain of our ancestors be remembered and respected or should the young ones just move on and not be burdened by memories of lived misery of the elder generations.

As children we more or less have a choice to remember the hardship of our parents or not, but for our parents and grandparents it's another story. The one who has lived in extreme poverty can never forget and all his actions in life are geared towards avoiding the circumstances he has escaped with some much effort.

Men and Women who have lived through and fought in the Second World War often talk until the end of their lives of this event. In the later years of their lives they become more silent because only then the memories become more easier to bear and slowly the pain fades away. Age does help with the process of forgetting.

 

But the thing is this is a very confused world. There are younger ones who don't even know that there was a Second World War, an event so drastic and dramatic that it has shaped the destiny and future of each country of this world. But it's nobody's fault, that one person has to much remembrance and the other one does not even know about the same event. That is just the way it is now.

How for instance are the lives of the six million Jews that have been killed in the gas chambers in Germany under the Third Reich Government of  Adolf Hitler remembered?

The World can remember them by looking at the memorials that the German Government has left. Some of the concentration camps have been turned into memorial sites and museum. On public places artwork has been erected to remember the past serving at the same time as a warning not to repeat what had happened.

Do we nee memorials? My very personal opinion is yes. Well, this is also a personal blog, allowing people to speak about their personal life. I think yes.

Now what about the shacks. They have been the face of South Africa, of black South Africa for decades.

Memorials are needed but they should be reality-orientated. Artwork is good but some things should be preserved, conserved and exhibited. Something of that reality "back then" should be left.
This is some sort of progressive, future talk.

How to remember when we come from this to this?

A beautiful house in N.U.7

But I can imagine, in a hundred and fifty years in the sparkling busy inner city of East London we can see a shack with a painted skull ( may be like the one in the first picture), exhibited under glass like a statue with a board in steel attached to it, engraved with the following words: This shack was once built in the section of N.U 5 in the then township Mdantsane, that was mainly a black settlement. It was inhabited by Mr.X and  his wife. It reminds us of the conditions most of the black South Africans have lived in during the 21st century.

I just imagine.

2150 A young girl standing in front of the statue asks her mother: " Do you really think that someone ever lived in this. I can not imagine".

Her mother replies: " Yes, we have not seen it but your great great grandfather did remember it and he has told your father's father about it".

Have I lost you know at this point? Does not matter? The pictures are nice.

The Color Of Hope Is Green - N.U 6

The Color of Hope Is Green. Green like new growth, green like fresh, like rejuvenation, like new life.

Here are some "green scenes" from N.U 6

When The Winter Wind Blows Over NU 6

When the winter wind blows at the end of July, beginning of August then East London is a very cold place to be. But it is still colder in Mdantsane. You can argue with me - but everybody says so. If you have experienced a day in Mdantsane when the outside temperature is about 12 degrees Celsius, the wind blows with gale force and the sky is grey and gets greyer by the minute, then you know what I am talking about. Or let me put it that way, it feels colder in Mdantsane.

The wind whistles and races over the hilly slopes of Mdantsane and makes the shacks rattle. Only occasionally the doors of some houses and shacks open to let the smoke out and a breeze of fresh air in. Fire and coal stoves are used to heat the houses. Inside, you might sometimes get the feeling that you are listening to some strange orchestra playing a modern opera on the roof of the house.

Mdantsane is beautiful and picturesque because the terrain is not flat. 

It is hilly with man view points but the fact that there are hardly any big trees or old vegetation that has grown over the years and could serve as a wind break, gives the wind full power to play its game. 

You know that it is really cold in Mdantsane when.....

even the ladies who usually do not like to wear pants at all - are wearing them under their dresses!

It is winter when the streets of Mdantsane seem so quiet like suburbia.

The Irons Maidens Of Mdantsane

Last year I visited an informal settlement that borders the section of NU3 and stretches quite far to the railway line. The shacks are perched on the slopes with ample space and fields between them. The whole area has a rural character

Yes, it is the settlement that has been recently visited by Government Officials. But I do not know its name. If you do recognize some of the buildings and you know the name, please tell me, so that I can include it in this article. I know that all informal settlements and squatter camps have names, that are relevant to their creation and history.

I spend an entire morning there and came home with more stories and some great shots of what I call the "Mdantsane Informal Architecture".

Our focus in our articles is never on poverty and deprivation, it is evident there is great poverty and we do not think that repeating it over and over again, alleviates it. Our focus is on what people do to escape poverty. And by looking at the amazing, sometimes excruciating efforts people undertake to build a home for themselves, have a meal, find transport or take care of their children, others who are in a better situation might feel touched and might want to step into the picture.

The way in which shacks are built in informal settlements was born out of pure necessity and poverty - and in the end it has become an art. 

I was invited to have tea with one of the shack-owners. 

I call them the "Iron Maidens", he said lighting a cigarette, and looking at our Government, I guess they will still be with us for quite a while".