Text: Tim Jackson. Article from the February 2013 issue of Africa Geographic Magazine.
Science editor Tim Jackson reports on improving living conditions for shack dwellers, helping to combat blindness in children, and helping ourselves and our economies.
Adding improvements
New Year’s Day saw 2013 in with a timely reminder of the hazards of shack life in townships around the continent. In Khayelitsha, Cape Town, fire destroyed more than 800 homes, leaving five people dead and more than 4 000 homeless.
For those who live in shacks, fire, floods and access to electricity and adequate sanitation are huge issues. Enter the iShack – or ‘improved shack’ – as a potential solution that will bridge the gap between ramshackle dwellings and the bricks and mortar of more formal housing. The idea is the brainchild of Mark Swilling, director of the Sustainability Institute, and a team of academics at the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa.
Although it sticks to the simple principles of shack construction, the iShack incorporates a series of features that will make life more comfortable for those living in it. For one thing, the design offers better insulation to protect against temperature extremes. For another, a solar panel provides enough power to drive three lights and a cellphone charger. Other improvements include a sloping roof that facilitates the collection of rainwater, an overhang against the north wall that provides shelter on hot days, and fire-retardant paint to reduce the risk of the structure going up in flames.
The new shack may cost twice as much as a traditional one, but its benefits are tangible.
Aid for Africa by Africa
Why do African countries receive most of their humanitarian aid from overseas? For David Dickie the question rankled, to such an extent that he set up Advance Aid in 2006 to supply African-manufactured supplies – mosquito nets, tarpaulins, blankets and the like – for emergency situations across the continent. ‘I think it’s absurd to fly large amounts of aid material around the world to areas where unemployment is high,’ he reasons.
Based in Kenya, Advance Aid is starting to bear the fruits of his foresight. By 2010 the organisation had provided World Vision and Catholic Relief Services with emergency items that went to destinations including Dadaab, a huge camp near Kenya’s border with Somalia that is home to 465 000 refugees. All items are manufactured by a dozen different industries in Kenya, pumping US$1.5-million into the local economy, www.advanceaid.org
A Sweet Deal
Remember being told as a kid to eat your carrots because they will help you see in the dark? That’s because they are rich in beta-carotene, which our bodies convert into vitamin A, a group of antioxidant compounds that help to maintain healthy eyesight. In Africa, more than 30 per cent of children under the age of five are vitamin A deficient, so adding sufficient beta-carotene to their diet should help to prevent blindness.
Plant breeders in Africa have developed a new form of orange-fleshed sweet potato that has a high beta-carotene content compared to the traditional white and yellow sweet potatoes that are a staple food in Africa but have virtually no beta-carotene. The orange sweet potato is being promoted and distributed with the help of HarvestPlus, an international programme that seeks to improve nutrition and public health. Farmers in Uganda and Mozambique are keen to grow the new variety and feed it to their families, and it has been supplied to more than 24 000 households in those countries. As a result, vitamin A intake has doubled, especially among women and children. HarvestPlus plans to provide orange sweet potatoes to another 225 000 households in Uganda by 2016, while the International Potato Center aims to distribute them to more than 600 000 families in 10 African countries by 2015.
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