Joining Hands Street Community organisation in Tafelsig – taking ownership of their streets
Documentary
The streets of Theronsberg and Voelvlei have a different atmosphere about them compared to the other streets in Tafelsig, Mitchells Plain. Walking through the area, one feels immediately welcomed and gets a sense that these particular streets are taken care of. Despite the evident hardship endured by the families, there is a cheerful spirit about every child passing by on their way to the field. This positivity is thanks to the good work done over the past years by the Joining Hands community workers.
These projects correspond with the goals of educating, entertaining and distracting. Another important goal is relief in the form of feeding by hosting a soup kitchen, sustainability projects through enabling employment and a space for social workers to operate from.
The community organisation were given three containers by a sponsor to create a safe haven for the youth of the area.Trevor Urias shows me some of the issues with the containers and what will need to be fixed before the containers are suitable as a community space.Children playing in front of the containers. Fully aware that this will at some point become a place for them to play music, dance and get after school education.Patrick Appolis and Trevor Urias discussing the project and what needs to be finished prior to builders coming in to fix the containers. Children playing in the yard behind them.Young boy playing with a spintop.A man teaches a group of children how to play golf on the nearby community field.Gamieda Booysen and Ruwayda Ryklief prepare soup for the communities children and youth.The big pot is on the stove in the container community center kitchen.Children taking shelter on a cold Winter day - soup and bread provided.A butterfly takes shelter inside the unfinished container as the rain is pouring down.Gamieda handing over a cup of soup and a piece of bread to Junior Delong.A group of children enjoy the shelter of the unfinished container with a hot cup of soup.Many children in Tafelsig are in need of the support of the Joining Hands community group and centre.Group picture of the volunteers.There is great importance in the youth seeing the older generations being active and cleaning the community field and neighbourhood.Once the area was clean and soil had been added a new community garden was established.Other benefits of a clean community field are soccer and netball matches.Looking onto the community field is a boy sitting on the fence of his family home.An area of the community field was filled with trash and old concrete.The goalkeeper kicks the ball up the field.On this sports day many of the children enjoyed the toys provided by the community group.Keeping an eye out. Patrick Appolis actively engages with his community and is vigilant of people that seek to cause trouble - especially regarding gangster adn activity of gangsterism.Joining Hands Community Group of Theronsberg and Voelvlei are visible and active members of their community.The beginning of sports day takes place and a warm up session is in order.Other benefits of a clean community field are soccer and netball matches.Family portrait of brother and sister.Portrait of girl before netball matchPortrait before soccer match of two boys.Portrait before soccer match of two boys.Library Day at the Tafelsig Library in Mitchells Plain.Library Day at the Tafelsig Library in Mitchells Plain.The community centre as it was half ways to completion.Builders that live in the area are helping out with getting the containers in order beforeBuilders that live in the area are helping out with getting the containers in order beforeA group of children "hang" out in the area across the community field. As activities for the youth are often sparse many children end up in situations of gangsterism, alcoholism and drug use.A group of girls are dancing outside the home of one of the street communities home.The community centre at its completion - a space for the youth to be creative and have a space of their own.
So far Joining Hands has done a wonderful job with the sparse resources available to them. Seeing how much they could do with so little awakened a passion to do more. What is needed in order to uplift and empower the children and community is education, recreation and distraction from unwholesome habits. The committee has the vision and compassion needed to achieve this goal, but not the funds.
The organisation is a non-profit community based organisation comprised of concerned residents living in Tafelsig, duly elected by the community. Their work is called for in response to a lack of constructive activities for the children of the area. With not much to do, It is too easy for young residents to fall prey to the many destructive activities happening in the township of Mitchell’s Plain.
