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.

.

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..