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Adventuresin

AfricaBerkana ExchangeApril-June 2006

Vishal Singh Dhaybhai

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Table of ContentsLearning Exchange - Introduction and Proposal 4

GreenHouse Project - www.greenhouseproject.org.za 5, 13-16

Recycling Centre 10

Lapeng 11

Creative Inner City Initiative 20

African Cultural Centre 26

Grannys 32

Somoho 34

Richard 38

Institute for Zero Waste in Africa 39

Local Art and Craft 44

Some Lingering Thoughts and Thank You! 47

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Learning Exchange - Introduction and Original ProposalAt Shikshantar in India, a young man named Vishal has developed a processfor building useful items out of “waste” materials. He has offered to introducethese skills to Dorah and the team at the GreenHouse Project in South Africa.In exchange, Dorah has offered to share with Vishal their unique practice ofurban agriculture, growing crops vertically in constrained spaces.

Vishal’s original proposal:WHAT I CAN OFFERI usually do kabaad se jugaad, which means ‘making useful things outof waste materials’. I feel full of joy through this continuous creativity.I would like to share with you in South Africa things like:· solar cookers made from mirrors, glass and containers such as

luggage and more· paper products like containers, coasters, curtains, photo frames,

jewelry beads (made by rolling paper into thin pipes)· paper mache creations like masks and hand-made paper· cola caps to make wire candle stands, key stands, jewelry pendants

and earrings, different toys, etc.· wood and cycle tire tube pieces to make clothes-hangers, key

stands, bags and stamps (through which one can express him/her self)

· jewelry made of local seeds, clay beads, wire· coconut shells to make cups, toys, soap dishes· and so many more things out of waste, which are useful, beautiful

and strong. I have made a small powerpoint presentation

I also can share the other things I know and have been learningabout, such as: filmmaking (camera work and editing on the computer),

Flash animation, flipbook and other drawing exercises, games andsome theater activities.

I can also share some healthy Indian food.

I can share these through different workshops, maybe withneighborhood children and youth and also at the Greenhouse/JoubertPart when we are hosting/doing something else there.

WHAT I WANT TO LEARNI want to understand the different things that are being done in theGreenhouse project. How are you making buildings more natural?How are you converting other houses into eco-buildings?

I also want to know how you are working on ‘zero waste zones’.How are you getting the community’s support and involvement?Government and industry’s support? How are you converting waste?What are your ideas around zero waste? What kinds of productsare you making?

I would also like to learn more about the different cultures in SouthAfrican as this will be my first time outside India.

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The GreenHouse Project was in a corner of abig green park, which was surrounded by tallbuildings and wide streets. The project stood apartfrom everything else in that area: one, because itwas the only green structure there and two,because it also looked like it was still incomplete.

GreenHouseProject

This was the first time that I stayed away fromhome for so long and that too in a foreign country.The journey by plane gave me the jitters and alsomade me very excited. It is difficult to describe whatI was actually going through.

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The GreenHouse Project was not like any othergreen house full of plants. Instead, it housed manyexperiments around organic farming and eco-friendly construction. It has been built with a lotof wood and glass so that plenty of light couldcome in. Even the floors are made of dirt dug fromaround the area and small pieces of bricks and tiles.

Apart from repairing and completing the oldbuilding, the GreenHouse Project team was alsobuilding a new one, the Earth ClassConference Centre. Both buildings have drycompost toilets (eco-friendly toilets). I wasimpressed to see that they grow a lot of greenvegetables, which are consumed by the people whowork here.

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The main function of theGreenHouse Project is to conductdifferent workshops and meetingsaround the concepts of zero waste,water harvesting, eco-buildingsand eco-villages. Both of my friends,France and Zini, go to differentoffices, schools and organizations totalk more about these issues.

For me, this was my first experience of working in a formalorganization with structure and rules. I was not used to a fixedtime for coming to work and a fixed time for leaving. I was notused to formal signatures and forms to be filled up for everylittle thing that needed to be done. This was all new to me, and Ifound it very difficult and challenging. I realized that I was notthe kind of person who enjoys working with the phone ringing inthe background, and I was also not used to sitting through longmeetings and lectures. Perhaps the reason why I disliked this wasbecause I myself am very slow in all these kinds of things.

Yet, I enjoyed sitting after office hours and talking with Zini,Dumi and France until late at night. In one of our conversations,

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it came out that I had a habit of forcing my opinion ontoothers. For example, when I was talking to people aboutupcycling waste, I also shared how I felt that the problem ofwaste could not be solved, unless we also boycotted the useof certain things, such as plastic bags, altogether. This issomething I firmly believe in and want to see happen.

But some people felt that from my tone and way of speakingthat I was forcing this opinion onto everyone else, that Iwanted everyone to do the same. They also felt a certain

aggression in me and said that was harmful for all of us.Sometimes, I feel I force my readymade ideas and solutionsonto others, without giving them a chance to think forthemselves. I find this problematicabout myself and have beenstruggling to change it. I want tomake my questioning morepowerful, so I can trigger questionsin peoples’ minds and they can relateto them. Only then can they findsolutions for problems in their owncontexts, with their own resources.

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I also lack patience, and I have a habitof wanting quick results for everything– this is a schooling mindset that I stillneed to unlearn.

I conducted some workshops at the GreenHouse Project.We tried to up-cycle some of the waste from thesurroundings, like wood, bottles, glass and paper, by makinginteresting tables, key chains and diaries out of them.

I also worked with France to make a checklist for the recyclingcenter so that some of the work could be more organizedand less chaotic. The checklist had information about all thematerial in the center with questions like, What wastedo we have? Who brought it? Who sold it and for howmuch? This was an entirely new experience for me.

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Recycling CentreThis also left me with many questions like, Whyis it necessary to make a checklist like this? Whatis the intention of the people who fill it out andthe people who had it made? Does thischecklist actually make the work easyor not? What are the advantages anddisadvantages of such checklists?

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Lapeng

I held a workshop with the kids in Lapeng, a youth center located nearby.Before I began, the kids asked me what kind of workshop I was goingto conduct. When I told them it would be around waste, they replied thatthey had already made many things out of waste. I was anxious to seewhat they had made. I thought that it would give me a chance to exploremore things and ideas around recycling. I saw how different their thingswere from mine. They showed me their creations, which consisted ofscreen printing, different kinds of puppets and decorative stuff. I realizedthat they were very creative, and there was a lot of potential to do many morethings with the kids.

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So, we decided to go to a nearby park to collect all of thewaste for the workshop. Much to our surprise, we were staredat by everyone. Initially, they all thought that we were part ofsome school workshop to clean up the park; later we toldthem that we were going to make useful things out of all thewaste that we had collected. They were flabbergasted.

I felt that it was much easier to work with children, in termsof getting new ideas. I saw a big difference in working with

GHPOpen Day

kids vs. working youth. The kids were morereceptive to trying out new materials, and theydid not need much explanation, while the olderones needed to be told things many more timesbefore they got into it. I wonder why??

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Surroundings of the GreenHouse Project

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One interesting thing that I learned from Doreen andThandi was Vertical Barrel Gardening. Basicallywhat they do is farming in small barrels with the help ofplastic bags. The farming happens in the same barrel atthree different levels, one over the other. They water theplants with a long thick pipe which keeps filtering the waterto all levels simultaneously. They also plant stuff on thewalls and exteriors of pots. I really want to do similar kindsof gardening in my house in Udaipur especially on theterrace. I know it will save water and also allow planting in

small spaces. The issue of extensive sunlight andheat also gets solved by this kind of farming.

They also have a vertical garden for medicinalplants. It’s just a mound of dirt and manure allstacked up with the help of hay and jute sacks.They have simply planted many medicinal plantson it. Even though it is an artificial garden, itlooks very natural. I had never seen verticalfarming before this.

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Thandi

Patricia (my host mother) kept askingme, “Why are you so thin? I willensure that you will leave here fatand round.” She was right, becausewhen I got home, everyone calledme fat.! But I really wonder how Iput on weight... Then I rememberedthe last meal I ate, the skeam bread

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Doreenand cook sisters, which I liked a lot and the porch(cooked corn meal) which I totally disliked. Nexttime, I go abroad or to a new place, I will have totune my tongue to different tastes, so that I canbetter appreciate local and traditional delicacies.I didn’t do a very good job this time!

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In Joburg, Nonebah was theyoungest member of thefamily I was staying with. Ispent a lot of time with her.We loved dancing, andso every day we came upwith a new kind of a dance.One day, we made peanutbrittle with jaggery. This wasthe first time I made it, andit came out really well.France, his wife, childrenTulli, Vash, and some of theneighbours liked it a lot, andeven asked for the recipe. SoI decided to make it againwith everyone else, and itwas a disaster! But Nonebahand Beauty (a neighbor)licked every bit of it clean. Istill laugh when I rememberthat incident.

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Back home in Udaipur, I know that for every little thingthat you need to buy, you have to go to a different shop.For example, you get vegetables only from street vendorsand spices only at a provisions store. Every shop in Udaipurprices things the same, based on quality and freshness.But here I saw that all you need to do is go to one big storeand you will find every thing there, and all the shops pricethings differently. I found that a little strange.

On one hand, there were these huge and very colorfulmulti-storied shops full of multinational products for the

rich, and on the other hand, locals ran tiny little shopswhich sold only Chinese goods. I could find very littlelocal stuff in the markets.

Some shops were owned by Indians (which is what allAsians are called). Many Indians are doctors, engineers,restaurant owners, etc. who have a lot of money. Sincethey hire locals as their workers, France (my best friendand savior) felt that others assumed he was my servantwhen we were walking around together. I told him that ifwe knew the truth about our relationship, then what doesit matter whatothers think?.

19Jo’burg from a distance: on the other side of this road are the gold mines (opp.page).

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CREATIVE

INNER

CITY

INITIATIVE

21A mobile hanging from the rooftop of the Creative Inner City Initiative workshop.

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CICI is a place where artists offer trainiing ondifferent kinds of art such as graffiti, mosaic, screenprinting, carnival art, paper making, etc., for free.These workshops are mostly done with youth, sothat they can earn a living from these skills. Ienjoyed the workshop because I felt a totallydifferent kind of energy at CICI, and it inspiredme a lot. I took part in a mosaic workshop. Whilemaking the mosaic, we started a discussion on how

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this specific art form was invented. Maybe it was just aboutupcycling and jugaad of waste, because that’s all they used tomake absolutely beautiful mosaics. Now in modern days,people buy all the materials for mosaics from the market.After this discussion, we then decided to change the flow ofthe workshop and went on to make a new mosaic, using onlythe waste that we collected from the surrounding areas. Webought nothing from the market.

This led us to brainstorm what else wecould do with waste and the mosaictechnique of art. We ended up makingphoto frames, clothes hangers, door knobsand lamp shades, by putting different wasteitems and tiles into these forms. And myfriends at CICI made many more mosaicsusing only waste too.

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In a small township called Alexandria, I went to a museumwhere they make mosaics and hold different kinds of artexhibitions. Most of the local artists go there to sell their workto make some money. Zini explained that they use this moneyto further develop their art. But that got me thinking, andmany questions came to me, like, What is art if it has to be

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dependent on the market only? How can artists survivewithout the market? What are the other ways in whichart can be explored? How do artists choose between art formoney and art for community and dialogue? What is localart if it is being sold outside?

These kinds of questions kept haunting me... I plan toexplore them further with local artists in Udaipur.

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AFRICANCULTURALCENTRE

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When I first arrived at ACC, I came acrossa student who was dancing as if he washaving a terrible stomachache. Then twoor three others also joined him and starteddancing in a similar fashion. I was reallysurprised to see this. I got the feeling thatone can do whatever they want to here.

I was also jealous, because I knew that Idid not have the kind of courage andconfidence to dance in any way I wanted.I would have died of shame. All the youthwere dancing, full of spirit and the waythey wanted to. No one was really apingany particular style. It was veryspontaneous and beautiful.Everyone was having a good time.

I was at ACC to conduct a workshop onupcycling waste. Most of the kids andyouth there were involved in theatre andused it as a medium to share what was

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going on in their families and communities. I thoughtwe could use the waste from their center andsurroundings to make interesting props and costumesfor their theater. Beyond this, I wanted my friends atACC to think about using waste to make useful thingsfor the daily needs of the theater itself, as well for theirown lives. I didn’t want the waste to only be used forprops, but to actually be functional and necessary totheir work, performance and lives.

I was very inspired to meet Benji, an older person wholooks after the center. He was active in theater, carnivalsand making art out of waste. At the moment we met, hewas quite preoccupied with the court and judiciary,because the Government wanted to break down the ACCbuilding and construct a restaurant in its place, so thatthey could get some revenue. For that reason, the center’sactivities were going slow, and they were not makingany money. But Benji has full faith in the theater and hisyouth. He is sure that the theater will continue, no matterwhat challenges come up.

30Constructing a sofa out of waste materials at the African Cultural Centre.

31Benji, ACC director, checking out the upcycled creations made in the workshop.

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GRANNYS!

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I learned about some interesting uses of plasticbags, which according to me, are the biggest culpritin polltion and a major enemy today. A fewGrannies and Nannies showed medifferent things that I could make outof plastic bags very easily. Theseamazing ladies were ready to learn andshare all they could even at this age.They taught me how to make hats and basketsout of plastic bags by knitting. They also knowhow to make cushion covers and dolls of the samewaste. They like to make these things, so that theydon’t get bored, and so their skill doesn’t die.

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SOMOHO

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Before I talk about Somoho, I want to tell youabout an interesting place I visited, the BusFactory. Instead of machines, there are a numberof small workshops/stores which produce andsell things made out of waste: for example,beautiful jewelry, art work, key chains, lampshades, statues and decorative items, are madeout of waste like bottle caps, tin cans and plastic.The people who work here are very creative.What caught my attention was that whole placeis still setup as a bus factory, yet it is full ofwork/shops. Unfortunately, the items there arequite expensive. I got the feeling that they maybe happy to share their skills, if one spends moretime there to talk with them. I was veryuncomfortable talking with the shop-owners andshopkeepers, because they didn’t seem to be veryfriendly for some reason.

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At Somoho, they do a lot of work with waste. They make different kinds of musical instruments, objectsof paper mache and picture frames. They have also created an organic garden with the help of local people.Somoho is a big place and many people are associated with it. They are raising questions around globalizationthrough their art. They also show people how to make daily use items, which are sold as well. While there,I thought a lot about the whole process of globalization, and how factory schooling and globalization aretwo sides of the same coin. Neither allow anyone to become creative; both schools andglobalization wants everyone to justreplicate and copy behaviors,materials, lifestyles, ideas... They teachus to be lazy consumers.

After talking with Sydney, a team member atSomoho, we both felt that India and Africa (likeother places) have many people who are worriedabout what is happening, and feel committed todoing something about waste and its alternatives.

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In Somoho, they have converted a large landfill into anorganic garden. Wow!

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RichardRichard is an elderly person who livesin Durban. He only rides a bicycle andmakes bio-diesel and composts. Hisentire bio-diesel plant was made out ofrecovered waste materials.

Richard also makes interesting kinds ofsolar cookers and sells them. He is liv-ing a totally waste-free life, in closecontact with nature. He has a great senseof humor too! I enjoyed meeting withhim and hearing his story.

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IZWAMost of my conversations on Zero Wastewere with Muna Lakhani, who runs theInstitute for Zero Waste in Africa(IZWA). These conversations keptopening new layers around this wholeissue. Muna’s focus is on how biggovernments and multinationals canbecome more aware of the whole conceptof zero waste. Muna stresses that allproduction should beoriented towards things thatcan be reused, recycled andcomposted. All waste should becollected, segregated and given to arecycler. Incinerators and landfills haveto be stopped completely. The challengeis getting companies to make productsthat can be recycled and not put into the

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trash. But why would companies do that? For them,making disposable products is more profitable.They do not want to think about the long-term, orthe kinds of changes they would need to make.

For the first time, I heard some jazz music,which I loved. I spent some time with Muna andVanessa on the harbor at a concert. We listened toa lot of Jazz and danced under the pale blue skyfor hours with lots of other people.

I really appreciated the way Muna explains thewhole concept of zero waste to people. Whatattracts peoples’ attention is how he can say a veryserious thing, very jokingly, and you willimmediately get it. It’s the confidence with whichhe says it. During an interaction with somechildren, I realized that the way he answers theirquestions with clarity and honesty, actually affects

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the person deeply. And they start feelingbound to think and act on their new beliefs.Some of his thoughts that really struck mewere:1. Zero waste is not about just cleaning up or

clearing up.

2. One needs to support and consume only local

goods and farm produce.

3. Traditional skills and work needs to be

encouraged.

4. Packaging has to be made more eco-friendly.

5. We need to think about why the media portrays certain countries or companies as clean (like America or Coca-

Cola) and doesn’t consider how much waste they create and spread. On the flip side, the media portays others as

dirty or wasteful, when relatively speaking, their waste is small.

6. Refusing things is a big power we have. It is also a resource.

7. We should not be dependent on only one form of energy.

In South Africa, for the first time, I actually finished reading two whole books (though they were quitesmall and full of illustrations and pictures). I especially enjoyed The Little Earth Book, which was aboutnature and globalization. I am still quite surprised that I read the whole thing.

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At Muna’s house in Durban, I scanned through alot of other books. I didn’t really read them, but Iwas very inspired by the art work and pictures inthem. There were many collections of my favoritecartoons and characters such as dragons andfairies and lots of children. I was also very excitedto see his collection on books on furniture,sculpting, stitching and so on. I actually spent thewhole day with books!

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Dumi sells green fuel and solar cookers, so that people seethem as alternatives. In the GreenHouse Project, they focusmore on the use of natural light and that was great.

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local art and craft

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I played billiards for the first time. That tooon a board that had been made out of waste.Vashi, France’s son, made it out of an oldcarpet, and the game was played with abroomstick and old marbles. Before this, Ihad seen people play it on TV; actuallyplaying was a totally different ball game.

One night, France took me to a real pub (!),the Voice Pub. Believe me, it sure was a noisyplace. It was very crowded for a Saturdaynight, and everyone was busy gulping beerfrom the barrels. I got a chance to play realbilliards here, and it was great. I really showedoff too, but I had to, because I was going totell everyone at home, and no one in myfamily had ever touched billiards before. Ilost three times, but it was fun! ☺

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Some Lingering Thoughts...After this experience in South Africa, I realized somethings about myself. I had never traveled anywherealone before, nor had I ever stayed with a familybefore. I didn’t know quite what to do initially. Ifelt a sense of freedom and openness, without theusual responsibilities that exist for me here inUdaipur. Yet, I don’t know if I took full advantageof the opportunity. In retrospect, I think it wouldhave been great to travel with a partner, to reflectwith me on work and myself and also to help fill insome of my blanks. France helped me to a largeextent, but I know I need to work more on my self-discipline and self-organization. Not that I want tobecome mechanical or formal, but I would like tohave the wisdom of what kind of discipline andplanning are necessary for what contexts.

To do this, I also see that I need to be more clearabout where my passions, questions and energy arewhen I enter into new situations -- to make sure Iput my time to good use and to be able to create

with my full heart.

How to recognize who is genuinely interested insomething, and who is not, is another quality Irealized I need to cultivate further. With solarcookers, I thought Dumi would be most interestedin helping (since he sells solar cookers), but what Ifelt was that Doreen and Thandi were moreinterested. I saw I needed to avoid pigeon-holingothers and that I didn’t want to be pigeon-holed byothers.

I felt it would have been great if I met Muna Lakhaniand IZWA sooner. His work was more aligned withmy own interests, and what I hoped for with theGreenHouse Project. If I could do it again, I wouldhave tried to talk with GHP more clearly about myinterests and about their expectations. I would havespent time more preparing talking with them directlybefore I left India. And when other organizationsand opportunities more suited to me appeared, Iwould have tried to re-negotiate my commitmentsand responsibilities sooner. I felt torn a bit: wanting

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to contribute to GHP, since I came to South Africabecause of them, but also wanting to explore otherpossibilities where I felt more connected andinterested. It would have been better if I spokeabout this internal conflict upfront, with friends atGHP, Berkana and Shikshantar.

When I think about what I have brought back fromSouth Africa to Shikshantar, I feel disappointed.All the practical things I learned, like making verticalbarrel gardens, I haven’t yet made the time toexperiment with and create here. I got great ideas,for a kabaad exhibition and a small library, but Ifeel like the time, money and energy spent on mehasn’t yet been put to good use -- in terms of tangibleresults. I am hoping to change this soon.

Unfortunately, I also feel I imbibed a negativeattitude, regarding power structures and our abilityto challenge them. I have this sense that we arebeing controlled by forces on top of us, which stiflesour creative energy. I feel like this was moreapparent to me in South Africa than in India (where

maybe it is more hidden). But there, I saw manyorganizations (CICI, ACC, GHP) all seeminglycontrolled by funds, rigid structures, boardmembers, formalities, etc.

For example, when I arrived, I was told that no onewas expecting me to come so soon. I can understandhow it can be difficult to organize thingsimmediately, especially if I was a surprise to many.But then, even after a month there, it was still hardfor workshops to happen with groups, simplybecause of the formal requirements or pre-planningthey needed. I found this really hard, because herewe are not so bound by these kinds of limits orstructures. I feel there is more space to experiment,create and be spontaneous.

Such limitations I also noticed in terms of creativity.The sheer joy of creating something, for one’s ownuse and pleasure, seemed absent. Many times, everycreation was linked back to the Market: How willwe sell this? Who to? What should it look like to beattractive to consumers? How many should wemake it cheaply? etc. On the one hand, I understand

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this approach, because if you are living in a big city,you are always concerned with earning and survival.Here in Udaipur, I have my family support, so thisisn’t a pressing issue for me. But I did find this kindof market-orientation very new, and I felt it restrictedmy own creativity and imagination.

I also felt restricted in terms of movement. Mysecond week in Johannesburg, I was mugged. Thatexperience not only made me feel more afraid tomove around freely, but it also made my companionsmore nervous to let me be alone. France had to bemy chaperone, which made me feel bad on differentlevels. One, because I was trapped and couldn’texplore on my own. Two, because I felt like a kindof hindrance to France, since he had to adjusthimself for me so many times. Of course, he neversaid anything to me about this, nor did I to him.

If I had to do it again, I think I would try to havemore clear conversations with people at GHP. Ialways worry about hurting others, but I think thatby not being open or honest, I end up hurting myself,

my work and my friends, directly or indirectly.

Perhaps this is one of the biggest learnings I ambringing back to Shikshantar: how to face conflictand manage competing agendas with more honestyand integrity, and how to speak more clearly aboutmy feelings. I don’t want to pretend about anything.I also want to give more of my time, skills, energy,to try new experiments in my work with zero waste.In the spirit of co-creation, I would like to buildupon others’ experiences and knowledge, but I amalso prepared to make my own mistakes and findother ways as well.

I ended up staying for almost three months. I amreally glad I that was able to spend this amount(almost double from what I had originally planned).More than skills and ideas on zero waste, I got achance to better understand the diverse culture,lifestyle and people in South Africa. This issomething I will never forget. Thank you.

- Vishal Singh Dhaybhai

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Thank You!I am grateful…

To the Berkana Exchange for giving me this gift of a journey.To my mother, my father and the rest of my family, and Shikshantar,

for waiting for an extra month for my arrival.To France who took such great care of me, as a friend, and for

putting up with all of my nonsense.To the GHP for connecting me to so many new people.

To Muna Lakhani and Vanessa Black for everything.To God, for all the efforts made for me and for bringing me to all the

people I met on the way here and there.

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