Mutual Support, Grassroots Collaboration, and Building Community

Taiji comes from Clovelly, a beautiful seaside town with dramatic mountain views in the south western side of Cape Town, South Africa. 

Cape Town has been voted the best city in the world for seven consecutive years, according to Telegraph Travel Awards. However, the country itself has the highest gross income inequality in the world. Inequality, poverty, and food security remain a daily threat facing the large majority of its 59 million people. 

Credit: Hannah Hopper

Amidst this dire contrast, Taiji began to organize community building activities in his neighbourhood. Starting from a community market to beach clean-ups, supporting soup kitchens and organic farms.

He often reaches out to new traders for the Clovelly Community Market, encouraging neighbours to volunteer. Their market focuses on locally produced, fresh and seasonal artisanal items.  

‘My aim is to connect people. All people have value. We all have something to offer to our communities. Sadly, oftentimes we become so lonely and caught up in our personal lives. We think, “I don't have time to be involved in the community.” But I think that community is about mutual support. Maybe the person who is struggling to promote their business will meet a young tech savvy neighbour who can advertise their products on Instagram. In every neighbourhood there are a wealth of collaborations just waiting to happen.’

One such collaboration, is Taiji’s initiative during the pandemic when South Africa was under lockdown. At the beginning of April, he and a few of neighbours decided to start a Community Action Network (CAN) in their neighbourhood of Clovelly. CANs are part of a community movement that is country wide. All people are encouraged to take action at the neighbourhood level to to mitigate the worst anticipated health impacts of COVID-19 and the economic effects of lockdown. 

 ‘This appealed to me because it made me feel like I could have an impact as a 21 year old on a second gap year’

Credit: Hannah Hopper

Communication channels were set up for any neighbour to join to support each other, as well as to support communities beyond their own – who had been impacted much harder than their relatively well-resourced neighbourhood.

Since then, the Clovelly CAN has grown enormously (80 members currently) and they use their collective resources to help support food security efforts in under-resourced communities. They do this by partnering with community led initiatives and supporting efforts to look after their own communities. Principal partners include Ocean View Organic Farm and 24 soup kitchens located in the township of Wesbank.

In order to raise more funds, Clovelly CAN are hosting an online art auction later this month (24-26 September on Facebook). A total of 33 artworks, all of which are donated and done by Clovelly residents. Taiji and his mother have both contributed two artworks each. 

Photo credit: Indie Lawrie

The art work by Taiji is titled: "Evening in Clovelly"

Acrylic on Canvas

84cm x 59cm

Starting price: R450 (±$30)

In all his efforts, Taiji never considered himself to be a leader whilst growing up. During his high school years, he started feeling disconnected from reality. Though he was aware of the social issues plaguing society such as GBV, poverty and environmental issues such as mass species extinction, droughts and hurricanes; yet, not knowing how to help so instead - did his best to ignore them. Computer games were his escape from reality. 

The turning point came after high school when he decided to take a gap year. In order to try make the most of it, he deleted his computer games and decided to volunteer at a local urban farm. 

Credit: Midoli Mahlangu

‘This really invigorated me. Weeding, planting, and harvesting activities gave me a connection back to nature and therefore life. I also started saying greeting my neighbours who I had hardly interacted with in my 20 years of living in the same house. They welcomed me and offered me a lot of support and advice during my gap year. I got free pottery from one neighbour, art classes from another, and essay writing support for my SATs from another neighbour. Their support warmed my heart and made me realize the beauty and power of being connected to a community.

In turn, it prompted me to want to give back to my community.’

As he matriculated from a Waldorf school, the importance of expressing oneself through art was emphasized. Through his artwork of pottery and painting, he is creating daily impact from his own creative efforts and inspiring neighbors in his area to support others especially during this pandemic.

Taiji is now 21 and recently got accepted to study at one of the top liberal arts college in the US.