Uplifting youth, Uplifting community
GROUP 7
Critical Media Production Project
Group 7
We were assigned King's Flats, more commonly known as Extensions 6 & 7, for our CMP project. We all actively participated in civic mapping and thereafter organising focus groups.
Civic Mapping Exercise
Here we went into the community, using the assigned questions as guidance, and came up with these results...
When we arrived in Kings Flats/Extension 6 we noticed that the landscape was quite dry and that the soil was eroded. Litter covered the open area where we parked but the gardens and houses of the people seemed well looked after and attempts to secure their property were evident by fencing and chains tied together by locks.
The most obvious thing about King's Flats is that, unlike most of Grahamstown, the area is indeed flat. The surrounding countryside consists of low scrubland that has almost no trees or large bushes. There is mostly just low grass stretching off into the distance. A large number of stray cattle graze on the open fields, along with the odd goat. Much of the surrounding countryside is strewn with a covering of litter, as are many of the streets of King's Flats.
The actual residential area of King's Flats is made up of a mix of gravel and tarred roads, houses and shacks, although there are more houses than shacks. Some of the houses are made from mud and wooden poles. Very few houses are neat or in good condition, with peeling paint, patched roofs, broken fencing and uncut grass. The plots of land are quite large by township standards and many people have grown plants or keep animals in their yards. There is usually at least one dog for each household and numerous chickens. A common sight was cattle and goats walking down the road.
Although Extension 6 is the farthest reach of Grahamstown and the township and is rather quiet, there are several important places of congregation and hubs of social interaction. There are several shops, one of which is run by Bangladeshi immigrants who are continually being robbed. A clinic offers basic medical services like vaccinations, family planning etc.
The police have a small satellite station in King's Flats. There is a school and rather battered playground, where children congregate because there is little else to do. They also group there because it is safer if they are in a large group.
There was also such a variation of houses, there were shacks, houses built of mud and face-brick houses with satellite dishes. The other thing I noticed is that life goes on despite the poverty.
The people were very friendly and willing to talk. Everyone had a story about crime or knew someone who had been affected by crime. The main issue was that youth were responsible for the crime. Young people were not going to school.
As part of our civic mapping we started asking key questions about the area:
Were there not enough school facilities, was there school violence? Why were people committing crime? Some residents suggested that there were not enough recreational facilities, that the tavern owners were responsible as they served underage children and that poverty and lack of opportunities exacerbated the problem.
We passed by a police station which we had earlier assigned to our smaller team and parked near a café and bus stop as it seemed to be where the majority of people stopped to talk to each other
We identified a police man that we wanted to talk to on our way to extension 6 and after splitting up we found a man who seemed to care greatly for the area and was well in tune with politics and solutions who we felt may serve as an important resource for our focus group
When we asked people questions about crime most of them were concerned with the following issues:
• Violent crime
• Criminals coming from other extensions into extension 6 (i.e. they are not being robbed by their own people)
• People are afraid to let their children walk to shops alone or without their parents in case they get abused or robbed
• They wanted police to be more efficient as most complained about a delay in reaction time
We took photographs of the area and most of the people that we interviewed in the area
Focus Groups
We decided to do two different focus groups to maximise on information from the community.
We documented our focus groups from start to finish on our blog:
Focus Group 1
http://group7civicjournalism.blogspot.com/2009/09/reviewing-focus-group-excercise-2_22.html
Focus Group 2
http://group7civicjournalism.blogspot.com/2009/10/reviewing-focus-goup-exercise-2.html
Visit Our Blog
It documents the minutes of our meetings, community field work and general comments on our work on the Critical Media Production (CMP) Project
http://group7civicjournalism.blogspot.com/
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