compton cricket club

I saw a feature this morning on the Compton Cricket Club who will be touring our shores early next year and was intrigued as how it all started.

The Cricket concept began in 1995. Based in LA, the team was created to keep the youth of Compton away from gang activities, address homelessness through the values and ethics of cricket such as how to respect themselves and authority. 

A fundraiser for their tour was held recently in Sydney to assist in funding the tour. Take a look at the Cricket Outta Compton website to find out where you can catch a game and how you can get involved!

a world of difference

A big congratulations goes out to Fran, a friend of b+c's who is one of 8 winners in this years UK Vodafone World Of Difference program. 

Fran has taken on a role as Project Coordinator with Latin America Foundation for the Future (LAFF) in Peru for the next 12 months. LAFF reaches out to young people who have been abandoned and provides support in the form of children's homes, shelters and nurseries. 

Fran will be setting up a skills training programme involving sustainable social business ventures for the most vulnerable. We wish her all the best in her new role and thank her for inspiring us all!  

b+c news

It has been a little while since we have been in touch. What have we been up to you ask? You may recall that we were in discussions with an inspiring group who in only four years managed to rally together to build the infrastructure to support 600 local students. The success of the school is due to the strong ownership that the community feels for the school and their excellent management skills.

We had previously heard of the great work of Got Matar and during our visit to Kenya we had the privilege to meet some of the extraordinary members of the Community Development Group who have been working tirelessly to give local children the best start they deserve.

b+c is teaming up with the school to design a much needed girls dormitory. Currently there is an extremely high drop out rate for girls as they travel long distances each day whilst still being expected to keep up their domestic duties at home. Not only this, the walk from home to school can be an extremely dangerous one. A dormitory will allow the girls to focus on their study providing them with a greater chance of completing their secondary education.

One of the exciting aspects of this project is that the building of the dormitory will run as a training program. This will provide an opportunity for the students and members of the surrounding community to learn basic skills in carpentry, bricklaying and the fundamentals in building design.

We are currently discussing the brief with the Community Development Group and the girls of Got Matar. We are thrilled to be sharing our passion for good design with Got Matar and proud to be continuing the support of Kenyan girls in furthering their education. We look forward to sharing stories of the road ahead with you all.

You can find more information on Got Matar and read all about other exciting initiatives that they have started by visting www.gotmatar.org

Friends of Rang'i

Rang'i Care Centre is an initiative set up to provide a home for orphaned children. The b+c team visited the children at Rang'i during our trip to Kenya and spent hours playing with all the amazing children. 

Amber has a long history with the centre having worked there in 2005. She and her fellow volunteers fell in love with the people and continue to show their support for the centre. They have recently set up the Friends of Rang'i blog so that everyone can be kept in the loop and read about the amazing work carried out at the centre. Here you can find out how to get involved, see photos, view the plans for the new school and read about inspiring people who grew up at Rangi' and are now achieving amazing results at college! 

You can also join the Rang'i Care Centre Facebook group.

We wish Rang'i all the best in the future and send all our love to all the gorgeous children who continue to inspire us all. 

The Social Studio

On a recent visit to Melbourne I stumbled across this great community concept. On first glance you expect this Smith Street studio to be just like any uber trendy cafe/clothing store that Melbourne so often delivers. However The Social Studio provides a unique opportunity for young refugees to not only use their style and skills to produce a clothing range but offers them emplyment, advice, encouragement, counselling and training.

At a time when it is becoming more and more important to reuse and recycle The Social Studio collects excess manufacturing material and reconfigures it into funky fashion! Take a look at their website, such a fantastic social enterprise!

category of culture

Peter Rich Architects have recently won the World Building of the Year award for the Mapungubwe Interpretation Centre in South Africa at the World Architecture Festival held in Barcelona earlier this month.

This is an authentic, beautifully crafted and culturally deep rooted building. A very deserved winner I say.

More info and images can be found here.

blog action day + cc

Blog Action Day is upon us again and this year the focus is on Climate Change (poverty was the central theme for 2008 - see our entry here). Spurred on by Practical Action bloggers, b+c have once again signed up to join an 8000+ blogging community to support this day of action. The aim is to unite the worlds bloggers and to raise awareness of key issues - and what a timely theme this is! With Copenhagen looming it is so very important to generate discussion around issues of climate change, adaptation and most of all how the worlds poorest nations who currently don't have a voice are being affected. 

There are other ways you can take action such as 350 (October 24),  The Wave (Dec 5, London)...  but if you want to make a start TODAY g0 a blogging and register here! 

HOMEmade

We previously blogged about Anna Heringer and the inspirational Handmade school in Bangladesh here. After hearing her speak at the Finland Symposium I thought we should update you all with the latest HOMEmade project. These three family houses are a tribute to local craftmanship, a testament to true community participation and basically a great lesson in how to provide modern, functional design that is appropriate to its surroundings. Oh and did i mention that they are also beautiful?

Anna has been nominated for the CurryStone Design Award and we wish her all the best! While I am at it, also in the running for this award is Rob Hopkins from Transition Network fame. If you haven't heard about the new wave that is Transition Town then you should definitely jump on board... Rob wrote the Transition Handbook and since then more than 200 towns have taken on the Transition principles. The first Transition Town was started in 2006 in Totnes, UK where the community banded together to grow local food, lower their energy use, plan more pedestrianised paths and cycle ways and even create their own currency to boost their local economy. It just shows what can happen when communities work together...

one & other

Sculptor Antony Gormley has set up a project called One & Other on the fourth (empty) plinth in Trafalgar Square. The public can become living monuments while being broadcast online. It is running 24hours a day for 100 days from July until October.

It is strangely big brother-esque, sometimes utterly boring and other times fairly amusing. It is also a great way to get the message out. For those who love knitting we were there last Saturday with our needles and yarn knitting up a storm in aid of p/hop, an MSF initiative (mentioned here). You can see us and "plinther" Ruth in action with needles in hand by visiting this blog by fellow knitter Jane.

So if you are in the mood for a bit of people watching you can go to the website and tune in to the live feed!

Teach a Man to Fish

The old saying "Give a man a fish; you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish; and you have feed him for a lifetime" is the inspiration for this particular organisation. Teach a Man to Fish aims to broaden access for the poor to high quality education combining vocational training and entrepreneurship by supporting institutions to increase their financial self-sufficiency. 

The website is packed full of fantastic projects from a 100% self-sustainable agricultural school in Paraguay to other small income generating projects such as piggeries and poultry initiatives in Uganda and Kenya. 

I hope this has give you a little inspiration for the day... if so I urge to you stop by and take a further look. 

Finland Symposium

b+c has been invited to attend the 11th International Alvar Aalto Symposium by our good friends Finnish Architects Hollmen, Reuter and Sandman (mentioned also here.) To see more of their stunning projects visit the NGO website Ukumbi (A Swahili word meaning forum, verandah and a meeting place for dialogue and discussion.)

The Symposium will be held on 7-9th August at the University of Jyväskylä which was designed by Alvar Aalto in 1954—55. As one of the b+c team is currently in Europe we are hoping to make it to this fantastic event. This statement below sums up why we think it is important for us to attend:

Inside the urban hubs of the Western world, a feeling of safety prevails. We continue to enjoy the highest standard of living ever known to humankind. At the same time, we are fully aware of the results of our culture of consumerism. Therein lies the greatest paradox: We are forced to actively forget reality to be able to enjoy the facade of excess we have created around us.

Yet outside the main stages of the metropolis is where our work is needed. There are a few architects who challenge the conventions of the profession and the ever-dictating forces of the market; they go where the real problems are and try to solve them with insight, economy and wit. These people are the pathfinders towards the next revolution in architecture, which will not focus on style, but on the balance between man and nature – or, in short, survival.

Sami Rintala, Chairman

To see the amazing programme and line up of speakers visit here.

glorious gardens

We were blown away by the Thuthuka School garden in Tembisa Township near Johannesburg as seen last week on Around the World in 80 Gardens. After viewing some stunning botanical gardens in Cape Town and a beautiful and opulent garden and home in Parktown, Johannesburg - the Thuthuka School garden brought tears to my eyes! The students work in the garden of their school to grow edible herbs and flowers, vegetables and trees. The children are so happy and delighted to have the space and resources to be able to beautify their school and you can feel their enthusiasm and passion when they show you around...

(it's about 3.20 minutes into the clip here... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgUJHL7-qGY)



There's not much information around about how they started the garden or how they have made it so beautiful- as far as I can google they have had support from Food and Trees for Africa - a South African based organisation that embrace best practices in sustainable environmental activities that empower poor communities while also playing an important role in reducing carbon emissions- truly inspiring!

The Tools to End Poverty

We love sharing great organisations with you all and here is a fab one. Kickstart is a not for profit organisation that develops and markets new technologies in Africa. The low-cost technologies are bought by local entrepreneurs to create profitable small scale businesses.

We visited their offices when were in Kisumu to see how their MoneyMaker irrigation pumps worked.  As you can see we had to give it a test run! 

Over 60 000 people in Kenya, Tanzania and Mali are running profitable businesses using these pumps. This is a great video which features co-founder Martin Fisher, the Kickstart team and the MoneyMaker pump in action. 

Another great product that we were looking into was the stabilised soil block press. Affordable shelter will always be in demand and this press provides a solution. There are plenty of other technologies to check out on the website such as cooking oil technologies and lots more. 

school open day

Despite the bumpy road this week there have been some great days here in Kenya and one of these was the Tumaini School Open Day held at Katolo. It was a chance to invite the whole community to come and learn about the project, ask questions and sign up for groups and committees. 

Although the day kicked off 4 hours late, typical Kenya time, it was a great success! There was a big turnout with alot of support for the project shown throughout the day, especially from the women in the community! 

A marquee, chairs and sound system arrived in the morning which in Katolo is no mean feat! There were posters pinned up, speeches and talks made, discussions and performances by the children from Kanyangoro Primary school. Kimberly, our resident film maker captured it all! 

bumps in the road

The past week has thrown up a few bumps in the road for bricks + cartwheels in Kenya.... One of the main issues we have come across that is causing us more than a few problems is the acquisition of land for the school. 

The land has been put aside ready to be sold for over a year but there are numerous issues coming up now that we are in Katolo. Demands and ultimatums are being placed on bricks + cartwheels and the CBO by the land owners. So the process of buying the land has turned into a much more lengthy process than we anticipated. 

After a week of negotiations and meetings and stress, the job of finding the best piece of land has now been handed over entirely to the CBO members. So here's hoping that they can sort this out.

Below are some photos from a meeting held under the tree at Kanyangoro  Primary School discussing the land and other matters relating to the Tumaini Secondary School.

a CBO is born

The first meeting of the community based organisation (CBO) was held on Sunday 4th at Katolo community centre. The aim of this meeting was to decide upon the name of the CBO, to go through the process of registration and to nominate the position of chair, secretary and treasurer. We are very happy to say that we now are registered! The team is dynamic, passionate and forward thinking and most of all the members all have the girl child's best interests at heart.

The location of the first CBO meeting

The meeting begins

We welcome Oscar Okello, Caren Wambui Kiarie and Wycliff Washington (featured here) as the newly appointed administrators and look forward to working with you all in the future.

Congratulating Oscar on appointment of Chairperson

Left: Oscar Okello, Right: Joab Othacher

Caren (right) the newly appointed secretary and Washington (left) the treasurer

In total there were 22 community members, from varying backgrounds and disciplines present. The members will continue to grow now that the CBO is established.

After lengthy discussion the name of the CBO was decided as the Kano Girl Child Empowerment Group (Kano being the region that the school is located). What a brilliant name for such an important development group.

And the school now has a name and a very fitting one at that!! The decision was that it was to be a neutral name, inclusive of anyone and everyone - the CBO have tentatively given the name of Tumaini Girls High School, a kiswahili word for 'hope'.

We have been busy organising meetings with local organisations, consultants such as borehole contractors, surveyors and architects so that we will be ready to start work on site as soon as possible. With another CBO meeting planned for Wednesday this week the b+c team are so very excited and so very proud of all involved....

Washington with the certificate of registration for the CBO

A school open day is planned for Wednesday 14th. This will be an important chance to spread the word about the school, rally volunteers. The Chief is spreading the word to all in the area to come and show support, offer suggestions, more on the open day soon!

katolo open day

The organising commitee and the community of Katolo have invited bricks + cartwheels to be part of Katolo Open Day! It is taking place on the 29th of December starting at 8.00am at Kanyangoro Primary School grounds, Katolo, Kenya.

Amber - one of the bricks + cartwheels team members - will be there with bells on ready to talk to the community, show them our design brief and our current masterplan. Just to be there for this day will be fantastic! It is a great opportunity to showcase to the broader community the plans for the Secondary School for Girls and gain feedback from a wide range of people.

There will be plenty of other activities happening throughout the day such as the provision of HIV-AIDS testing and counselling services, presentation on modern methods of agricultural practices, provision of mobile library services, tree planting and tree/seedling donations, sports, games and many other fun activities!

Thank you to our friend Washington who is organising this wonderful day! We will be sure to give you updates and photos of the festivities.

christmas hampers

To help spread the christmas cheer a couple of us helped out with delivering hampers on Saturday for JCA. We, along with 250 other volunteers grabbed our maps and navigated our way all over Sydney!

The hampers were delivered to refugee families, some who have been here for 3 yrs to those who arrived a week ago. We delivered ours to the most divine Sudanese familes who were all so gracious when accepting the gifts. I was amazed that not one of the children ripped into the hampers but instead sat so patiently!

Today there are a staggering 21 million recognised refugees in the world – a number almost equivalent to the total population of Australia. Almost 9 million of these ‘refugees’ are actively seeking refugee status. Over 6 million are Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), forced to flee their homes largely due to internal conflict in countries such as Sudan, Burma, Afghanistan, Columbia and Iraq. Currently more than 70% of the total refugee population seek refuge in the developing world.

Over 40% of the total refugees are from our own neigbourhood of Asia and around one quarter are from Africa. Australia takes in a tiny number – approximately 13000 in total, 6000 who are allocated under the humanitarian category.

There is more information on the above when you visit Refugee Council of Australia.

So although the delivering of hampers is just a small splash in the ocean it definitely is one of the most rewarding things you can do at christmas! I will be making it a yearly event for sure!

green thumbs

I suddenly have the urge to join a local community garden. After picking up the real (food) handbook with the SMH a couple of weeks ago, i have a real hankering for a little bit of digging!

This little handbook for those who didn't manage to pick one up, was packed full of interesting tidbits and buzz words such as locavore: someone who only eats food produced locally. There was info on where to go to join your closest community garden.

If you would like to join a community garden and don't know where to find them take a look at this list and put that green thumb to work!

Our resident Jamie Durie-esque friend has also alerted us to the square foot garden. This is great for those who have limited space. This is a great "how too" link if you are interested in this method. Conceived by Mel Bartholomew, author of Square Foot Gardening, the techniques have been enthusiastically adopted by gardeners all over the world! Have a go!

garbage warrior

Now this is one amazing guy. Anyone seen this documentary? A friend who is in the know about all things waste has watched it. I am yet to, but just visiting the website and watching the trailor was enough to inspire.

For 30 years, renegade architect Michael Reynolds and his green disciples have devoted their time to advancing the art of "Earthship Biotecture" by building self-sufficient, off-the-grid communities where design and function converge in eco-harmony.

Based in New-Mexico, Michael has come up against many critics, so much so that he was stripped of his architecture licence. These earthships defy state standards and Reynolds has continued to lobby for the right to create a sustainable living test site.

It was when the Tsunami struck that Reynolds was able to use his pioneering skills to rebuild communities such as the Andaman Islands. He was able to teach the locals how to recycle cans, bottles, tyres and collect rainwater off these structures for clean drinking water.

He looks to be a wild character, a one of a kind and as some put it a hero of the 21st century! I will be heading out to grab my copy of Garbage Warrior for sure. To watch the full length trailor visit here.