Background
on the Kgautswane Community
Kgautswane is a deep
rural community in 19 villages on the border between
Limpopo
(formerly Northern)
and
Mpumalanga
provinces in
South Africa
. Kgautswane
residents have modest expectations of life. The village and its
surrounds support a population of about 60,000, most of them
subsistence farmers. Like many rural villages in South Africa, a high
percentage of able-bodied men and women are forced to seek work
elsewhere -- in cities such as Johannesburg or Pretoria, several
hundred miles away, or in Lydenburg, the nearest major town, about 50
miles distant. Children are often raised by the grandparents or
extended family members who remain behind and rely on financial
support from those who leave to seek work elsewhere.
Though in
Limpopo
Province
, all access is from
Mpumalanga
, including the one
primitive, non-tarred road. For years the electricity grid passed
nearby en route to more substantial towns to the north, but the
majority of Kgautswane was without electricity until late 2003 when
the state-run electricity company finally connected a couple of key
sites within the community, including the community center and the
health clinic. Most members of the community however are too poor to
afford the luxury of electricity.
There is a
telephone satellite tower on a hilltop near the valley and a couple of
sites now have access to a telephone line, although the quality of
this connection is very unreliable. The phone at the computer center
has not worked for over a year despite repeated calls to the telephone
company. Cell phone access is available but
coverage is very spotty. Still, this is a major improvement from just
a couple of years ago.
The area is
well-served by schools. There are some 10 primary- and seven
secondary-level schools -- one of these, lying sufficiently close to
the grid, has electricity. The rest rely on daylight and candles.
ITC
Centre
Given such
handicaps, the people of Kgautswane have learned to be self-reliant.
Several years ago, they formed the Integrated Community Building (ICB)
program to conceive and implement projects aimed at community
improvement. Led by Clara Masinga, the ICB has achieved some
commendable successes, one of which is the Kgautswane Information
Communication and Technology (ICT) Center, a seemingly modest project
comprising no more than an IBM server, three workstations, two
uninterruptible power supplies and a color printer/scanner. There is a
rudimentary radio telephone link in Kgautswane, but its poor quality
does not permit Internet access. The ICT Centre provides fax, phone,
copying and computer services to all community members.
The
ICT
Center
is housed in the
Integrated
Community
Building
, which is comprised
of a dozen 20-foot steel transport containers strung together into a
network of rooms and offices. Until late 2003,
power is supplied from a 5,500 watt gas-fuelled generator, which was
run 18 hours a day -- such i
s the demand for the
service. The absence of grid power was a major stumbling block for the
development of a full functioning centre as planned by the original
Sponsors of the centre. Generating electricity by
means of a petrol generator could only have been a temporary solution
as the supply of petrol depended entirely on available transport to
the nearest petrol station in Ohrigstad 40 km away, and cash on hand.
This inconvenience and costly procedure prevents the light facilities
and electronic equipment being used much of the time. Furthermore,
there is insufficient power from the generator to power light bulbs
and the computers, so visitors are treated to the incongruous
spectacle of high-tech computers being operated by candlelight after
dark.
As
of November, 2003, the community centre has had access to electricity,
and it is anticipated that the center will be able to now expand its
range of services.
The
lack of adequate telecommunications bandwidth has now become the
centre’s most serious problem. As mentioned
previously, the centre’s telephone line has been out of service for
over a year. Even when the line worked, however, the quality was poor
and the connection unreliable. For a while, some community organizers
were sending and receiving e-mail in Ohrigstad, an hour’s bus ride
away, however that is no longer an option because the shop owner has
moved to another city.
The centre is
owned and run by the ICB, with expenses paid for by renting the
computers to locals who use them to lend a professional touch to
business plans or school reports. The center generates income of about
$800 a month. The total cost of the project, which was partly funded
by the World Bank, was about $44,000. It should be noted that the
centre is economically sustainable at its current size without
additional infusions of outside funding.
The Community Health
Clinic is next door to the Community Centre. Although the clinic has
been stocked with some built-in equipment, the absence of electricity
in the clinic makes it very difficult to use the equipment.
For example, when one of the nurses was asked what they do when
at night-time birth aid is required, she answered, “We have to
illuminate the labor room by the use of candles.”. Other shortfalls
are the missing fridges for medicine storage and the non-existence of
telephone lines or radio communication with the outside world in case
of an emergency. All money spent in building this solid and
sufficiently conceptualized community hospital is in question if no
sustainable electricity can be provided.
Although
the clinic was also just connected to the electricity grid, it will be
many months or longer before staff is able to secure the equipment and
supplies it needs to operate effectively. Still, having access to
electricity is a major step forward.
Cultural
Village
The
community leadership has also started construction of a “
Cultural
Village
” in order to
foster traditional culture, such as art, music and culture that has
been over powered by western culture. The village has the potential of
becoming a way of preserving traditional culture that is dying out,
a source of pride for the community, as well as a potential
tourist destination for visitors to nearby Kruger National Park.
Although they have many volunteers in the community, the project is
short on financial resources necessary to complete the projects.
Furthermore, they currently don’t have a feasible way to publicize
the village or share it with the outside world.
Education
As mentioned
previously, the area is well-served by schools. There are some 10
primary- and seven secondary-level schools -- one of these, lying
sufficiently close to the grid, has electricity. A couple have limited
photo-voltaic power. The rest rely on daylight and candles. Few
schools have improved sanitation facilities beyond pit toilets. There
is currently no schooling available within the community beyond the
secondary school-level.
The quality of
education and relevancy of the education for helping graduates find
good employment is uneven, at best. At most
schools, rout memorization of facts and figures is the norm. Teachers
often lack adequate books or supplies – including pencils and pens.
Although most teachers are motivated and due the best they can with
limited resources, they are often under-trained and the curriculum
often does not reflect the needs of the community.
There are bright
spots however. One school,
Mathaseng
Secondary School
has gone from a 35%
matric pass rate five years ago to an above average of over 95% in the
last two years. The success of this school is largely attributed to
the administrative skills of its principal, Sidwell Malete.
Another
encouraging development is that teachers are some of the most
dedicated users of the computer centre and many have learned basic
computer skills. Teachers use the centre primarily for the preparation
of their regular reports, as well as to help prepare their lessons.
Still, the centre’s resources are far from being utilized to their
full capability.
The staff of a
number of the community’s schools would like to introduce computers
to assist with instruction and for administrative purposes, however
their efforts have been stymied by lack of budget, know-how and lack
of adequate energy and telecommunications infrastructure.
Results
Before
the community center (ICT) people had to pay R8 each way for a
mini-bus ride to a roadhouse approximately 25 KM away and R2 for a
photocopy or R5 to send a local fax.
Within
a week of opening the centre was being used 18 hours a day providing
teachers with the ability to compose and copy lessons and the few
scarce textbooks available, local business services are beginning and
using the center, and the government is to install more computers so
as to deliver some government services electronically.
Since the launch
of the
Kgautswane
ICT
Center
in 1999, the
village has become a font of entrepreneurial energy. Typed business
plans pour out of the center in search of finance and partners,
teachers are issuing students with professionally presented rather
than hand-written papers and committee minutes are now being printed.
Kgautswane has had a crash course in the joys of computing.
The existence of
the ICT Centre has already attracted provincial and other investment.
For example, the Limpopo Province Government has provided an
all-weather access road, sports fields, health clinic, chicken farm
facility and additional community meeting rooms. The community has
built a bank building and is creating accommodation for visitors as
well as a handicrafts market. Negotiations to
attract bus tours through Kgautswane are underway. The
improved communications infrastructure, as well as the attention the
village has received, has facilitated access to government services
and private sponsors as well as making it easier to arrange planning
and logistics.
Paul
West, former Director of the Centre for Lifelong Learning at Technikon
South
Africa
, one of the
sponsors of the project, says the center is changing life for
Kgautswane residents in other ways. "For one,
levels of computer literacy have been markedly raised,” West said.
“Most people in
Africa
will never own a
computer in their lifetimes. Therefore, other ways will have to be
found to introduce them to the information society. This project is
introducing the people of Kgautswane to the information society and
bridging the digital divide. The existing level of
literacy in Kgautswane underlines the capacity of rural people to
accept high-tech solutions and integrate them into their
lifestyles."
Perhaps
one of the most exciting aspects of the work the ICB has done is that
Kgautswane has become a positive model to be replicated throughout the
region. Leaders from many neighboring communities, as well as from
around the world have come to Kgautswane to learn how the village has
accomplished so much. Key lessons that have been taken away include:
·
community
leadership is essential
·
government,
“donors” and sponsors must respond to, support, and not drive, the
development agenda. Outsiders cannot decide development priorities for
a community, it must come from within.
Kgautswane
has demonstrated how strong community participation, vision,
leadership, motivation to improve economic, social, educational and
health conditions,
and a willingness to inclusively embrace the collective decision
making process necessary for community growth.
Although the
facility’s current capabilities are limited, the Kgautswane ITC so
impressed the Stockholm Challenge judges, that they awarded it a joint
winner in its "Equal Access" category for the 2001 Stockholm
Challenge. The judges were impressed with the
determination of the project coordinators to succeed against all the
odds -- no power (the voltage from the generator fluctuates wildly,
making this a tricky undertaking for any supplier), telephones, funds
or trained personnel.
Current
Programs and Goals in the Community
Acumen
International has been engaged in the community since mid-2002 and
continues to advise community leaders on a range of projects
including:
·
Crop
Irrigation
·
Sun-Dried
Tomato Production
·
Solar
Bakery
·
Expansion
of the Community Banking Infrastructure
·
Expansion
and improvement of the computer centre
·
Development
of a Cultural Centre
·
Roads
improvement
·
Improvement
of educational resources of the community
