On a small plot of land just south of the junction of Lansdowne and Ottery Rds is the community of Victoria Mxenge, named after one of the heroes of the freedom struggle. At the community’s centre you can how local women, sick of living in shacks, started a joint savings scheme and taught themselves every aspect of building to design and construct their own homes. For little more than the cost of the very basic RDP home, the women can build three-bedroom homes of around 85 sq metres. So successful has the project been that they now advise other women’s groups around the world how to build homes.
