In Suva

Today Ana, a PCN member, and I visited Peter Rankin, president of the Fiji Architects Association and director of Aapi Design.  We talked with Peter and his keen employees about projects involving architects and communities working together in Asia - I showed examples from Thailand, the Philippines and Laos, we talked about ACHR, city-wide mapping and small scale projects, comprehensive upgradings and architects.  Ana and Peter talked about the relationship in Fiji between squatters and the PCN with the government and other local issues. 

Peter suggested he send an email to the other members of the Architects Association asking for those who are interested in working with communities on projects to write back, so he can put together a list of architects that the PCN can have to contact when communities need technical assistance and architectural involvement.  Ana will email him tomorrow so they are in contact with each other, and he will send the email out to the architects.

Upgrading work in Navutu, Nasoata and Nasinu

Momentum in the upgrading projects of the seawall and the drainage in the villages has continued, with stones being moved from where they have been marking gardens and acting as decoration within the community to the new seawall, starting in Navutu.

On Friday night a fund-raising kava night was held to gather a seawall fund.

Members of the village move rocks to build the seawall photo by Anna

 

Community members move concrete debris from the beach to become part of the seawall photo by Anna

And the drainage team has, through their good relationships with the industries around them, had the assistance of a digger and driver from the time he finishes work about 5pm till sunset this week.  This has helped digging the main drain for Nasoata and Nasinu.  The digger driver has been paid with bundles of fish caught by community members.  

The drainage team was having a meeting on Saturday to decide on local organisations and businesses to contact to help with funding for materials for the drainage project, each family has already given 10 dollars to begin the fund.

 Digger, driver and new drainage in Nasoata photo by Anna

 

 The new drain photo by Anna

 

Mapping and Surveying with the PCN

Yesterday morning Hugo and I joined Niko, Joe and Samu of the PCN when they went to an informal settlement called Veidogo to do mapping and surveying with the community.  An extensive survey was done with the head of each household by the PCN members, in this they collected data about household members, expenses, occupations, duration of time there and more.  Then a community map showing houses, paths, context surrounding, toilets and kitchens was drawn by the community members with Niko's guidance.

Samu doing survey with a community member photo by Anna

Community members working on their map photo by Anna 

Community members working on their map, locating houses photo by Hugo

The next city-wide meeting...

As well as the community members who came to the meeting on Saturday passing on the information about the city-wide meeting on Tuesday afternoon, Hugo and I with a PCN member (Niko) and community member of Navutu (Simi) spent Sunday and Monday afternoons visiting different settlements talking about the idea of a city-wide network and telling people about Tuesday's meeting.  In the settlements we visited people were interested in the idea - some communities have taken part in the PCN community mapping process and some have not yet.

And then on Tuesday members of seven communities came to the meeting, and some great discussions were had.  Working on a large map of Lautoka, members identified where their community was, how many houses in their community, and what kind of land they live on.  From this, they divided into two groups to talk about their situations; the groups were communities who live on state / crown land, and those who live on native land.  Their history, problems, any projects, ideas were all discussed, and then presented to the group as a whole.  All the members there swapped phone numbers, and all other community members were invited to come to Navutu on Thursday and Friday afternoon this week to work together more.  The tentative date for a city-wide mapping workshop and PCN forum was set for the weekend of the 18th and 19th of September.

Gathering details of the communities present photo by Anna

Working together to identify common issues on state / crown land photo by Anna

Sharing information about issues of living on native land photo by Anna 

Lautoka city-wide network begins

On Saturday 21st August the first city-wide meeting of members of informal settlements in Lautoka was held in Navutu community.  Representatives of three other squatter communites in Lautoka came, plus members of Navutu, and a decision was made through discussion of  the idea of a city-wide network that another meeting would be held on Tuesday afternoon, and that all who were there would spread the word to other communities they are in contact with.  So from this small start, developing a city-wide network has begun.

Mapping, Seawall and Drainage

Hugo and I have printed out maps (from google maps) of the three settlements, put them together and then drawn precise maps of the area from them.  On Friday we took the map of Navutu, Nasoata and Nasinu to the community for them to put together the information from their community-drawn maps (which were done with the PCN) onto this format.  A few houses had been added or demolished, so there were a few changes to be made; the community worked on doing this and identifying who lives in each house.

After this the community members made two committees to address their most urgent problems; the need for a seawall and drainage upgrading.  The seawall committee measured the area of coast that is vulnerable - 810m - and came up with some ideas on how to start work.  The drainage team investigated all the drainage issues in the three communities, added the drainage details to the drawings, and discussed how to get started.

Community map, Navutu settlement photo by Anna

Community map, Nasoata photo by Anna

Community map, Nasinu photo by Anna

Community members identifying houses on the maps photo by Anna

Community members identifying houses on the maps photo by Anna

Community members identifying houses on the maps photo by Anna

Discussion of drainage issues and solutions photo by Hugo

From Plan to Action

We spent today with the Navutu, Nasoata and Nasinu communities while they made their drainage and seawall plans more clear and ready to begin.  Both teams and the whole community are very keen to get going on these projects, and after spending today together measuring and planning, then talking to the rest of the community about what they've come up with, they intend to start the building and digging on Monday.

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Continued work in Lautoka

Two common problems that the three communities of Navutu, Nasaota and Nasinu have identified are the need for a seawall, and their drainage system.  They are very keen to get started tackling these problems, alongside initiating contact with the government in regards to land rights, and strengthening the relationship between the three communities (which has been difficult at times).  After Semiti finished the workshop Hugo and I worked with the seawall team and the drainage team to look in depth at the problems and potential solutions.  The members of the community have considered solutions, where to get potential material donations and grants from, and using their own labour to do the work.  We will continue to work to support them in planning their projects.

And coming up on Saturday Semiti has been organising representatives of all the informal communities in Lautoka to gather and discuss the PCN and their situations.  Hugo and I will start the city-wide mapping and surveying process with the communities then to get an overall picture of the informal settlements in the city and to start a big discussion amongst the communities about their situation, what they can do together and how they can support each other.. 

At the Western Commission Meeting

This morning Hugo and I accompanied Semiti to a meeting of the heads of department of the Western Commission of Fiji (the Western Commision includes Lautoka, Nadi, Ba, Sigatoka).  Semiti made a presentation about the PCN to the Commision.  He spoke strongly and clearly about the PCN; how they work, who they are, what they're doing in Fiji and the specifically the western area, and what they've achieved so far.  As Semiti spoke about the situation of squatters in Fiji to the Commision he said "...they don't need your sympathy, they need opportunity...". 

The local government members present seemed interested in Semiti's presentation, and it was timed very relevantly as the previous presentation had been about Poverty Alleviation in Fiji, and had discussed how effective government money spent on 'pro-poor' policies actually is.  As the speaker about Policy Alleviation told the Commission, every year money is spent on 'pro-poor' policies, but the number of people below the poverty line is consistently growing.

Following Semiti talking about the PCN, Hugo and I also presented a few examples of upgrading projects done in Asia - a Case Studio project in Ayuttaya where after working on a path upgrading a community continued to spontaneously upgrade their houses and area, as well as gain leverage in dealings with the government, and a small upgrading project in the Philippines in which a seaside community built a riprap (presented by Carl from PACSII at the recent Community Architects Meeting in Chiang Mai).  Some of the communities in Fiji are in similar situation with land being eroded by the ocean.

For the next few nights we'll be staying with the Navutu community near to Lautoka town, and getting to know them, as well as starting to work with them on mapping.

Community Empowerment Workshop – Lautoka

Hugo and I joined Semiti of the PCN and spent today at Lautoka city in the north-west of Viti Levu, participating in the empowerment workshops that the PCN is running in Fiji’s squatter communities.  These empowerment workshops run for three weeks, and each workshop includes three or four nearby settlements.  This workshop started on Monday of this week so we have the chance to be part of this process from near the beginning.  It is based in the coastal community of Navutu, and includes neighbouring settlements Nasawata, Nasinu and Taiperia.  These communities are all at risk of eviction at the moment as the land they live on is desired by industrial companies. 

Lautoka, which has a population over 50,000, is otherwise known as ‘sugar city’ due to the predominance of sugar cane farming in this area.  The people who originally settled in the coastal squatter communities involved in this workshop were Solomoni labourers for the CSR (cane sugar refinery).  Today there are still descendants of these settlers living on the land (that was given to them to build their houses on during the times of CSR), as well as native Fijians.  Many present day dwellers in these squatter communities work in the local industries of sugar cane and timber.

After a formal welcome to the community and the process, we joined in an activity in the empowerment workshop where groups from the settlements planned their dream community.  A large piece of mdf/masonite board was supplied to each group, and then it was up to the members how they would map their dream community.  The groups had already worked to identify the things they wanted in their community, and this was a chance to physically put them together.  Materials found in the community were used to make the maps; including sand, leaves, cardboard from empty packaging, twigs, and plastic.  The three maps produced gave a great sense of pride to their creators, and much discussion about where and how the dream communities should be organised was had in the groups during the process. 

In the last thirty years about twenty metres of land has been eroded by the sea from these coastal communities, therefore a seawall is a clear priority to community members.  Some more of the aspects identified by the communities as part of their dream communities were: a kindergarten, a community hall, a dispensary, a police post, park benches beside the seawall, a playground, netball court, handicraft store, place to buy and sell fish caught in the community, a greater number of houses to allow families to grow but stay in the community.  These are just a few of the many ideas proposed and mapped by the communities in this activity.  The people already have plenty of ideas for changes they want to see, but are only starting to find ways to make it happen.

The empowerment workshop is held in Navutu photo by Anna

Navutu community photo by Anna

Navutu communtity, seaside erosion photo by Anna

Nasawata community group working on their map, community member Tom drawing the drainage 

photo by Hugo

Tom from Nasawata community showing where 20m of land has been eroded over the last 30 years

photo by Hugo

Members of the Navutu community planning their dream community

photo by Anna

Semiti from PCN talking to members of the communities

photo by Anna

      

Preparing to go...

We're spending today at Hugo and Heidi's place preparing for our arrival in Fiji tomorrow night, and have had contact this morning from Semiti and Father Barr from the PCN in Fjij.  Presently they're working in settlements in Nadi, Lautoka and Ba (on the Western side of Viti Levu), so when we arrive we will stay in Nadi to start rather than going straight to Suva.  They have done mapping in 12 settlements in this area already, and Semiti and Father Barr are running workshops with the communities.
 
We've also had an email back from Peter Rankin, president of the Fiji Architects Association (and design director an architecture firm in Suva) who is happy to be involved and has employees who are also interested - some of his employees also met with ACHR representatives when they were in Fiji earlier this year.
So tomorrow evening we'll arrive in Nadi, Fiji!

In Introduction

After an introductory visit to Fiji earlier this year ACHR is beginning to work in supporting the PCN in Fiji in their aim to assist dwellers in informal settlements to upgrade their own communities.

As part of this process several community architects from the Pacific region will be based in Fiji from the 16th of July until the 10th of October. During this time these representatives will help facilitate community surveying and mapping in Fiji and work together in this with community members and the PCN in building on the existing networks of local technical professionals (engineers, architects etc), academics and students supporting the communities process.

For more information about ACHR see http://www.achr.net/ And for more information about the situation in informal settlements in Suva see http://www.informalism.net/