Berlin

Berlin is one of a scatter of villages on the rolling hills between East London and Bisho, now capital of the Eastern Cape and formerly capital of the Ciskei, one of South Africa’s iniquitous ‘homelands’. Houses sprawl over the eroded soil. The poisonous Bantustan legacy of overcrowding, lack of infrastructure and inadequate education is evident everywhere as people try to eke out an existence alongside their livestock. The population of this area continues to carry the burden left by a century of the migrant labour system that saw most able-bodied men leave to work in the urban centres, while those left behind were doomed to ever-increasing poverty.

What challenges face the Advice Office:

Of the 150 000 people, 100 000 are female and 90 000 are younger than 35. Increasingly there are child-headed households as the number of deaths from HIV and AIDS increases, although the extended family structure still manages to absorb many orphans. Berlin and surroundings are too crowded and environmentally degraded to make anything but the most rudimentary survivalist farming possible, and government assistance with ploughing and the inoculation and dipping of livestock is virtually nonexistent. All except one of the local factories closed in the mid-1990s, adding a further wave of impoverishment. This was a hammer blow to these rural families already struggling to survive as people are dependent on a cash income to buy food and pay for services. Most people now survive on government grants – a pension, child support or disability grants.

Services are slowly being provided – there are taps now and most villages have electricity. Many households continue to use wood and paraffin as the cost of electricity is unaffordable for most people. The newly built low-cost houses are a mixed blessing. Although they are warmer and drier than shacks, they bring with them much higher costs because of the charges for rates, water and waste collection. The number of shacks continues to grow, however, as increasing numbers of farm workers have been evicted after being dismissed because commercial farmers are unable or unwilling to pay the newly legislated minimum wage. Berlin and the surrounding 21 villages are neither agricultural nor industrial. It is in fact a vast rural slum – one of many that have grown up in the wake of the absolute failure of rural job creation and the inability of crowded urban centres to absorb people. The Berlin community has, despite this woeful situation, negotiated through the advice office that they be employed first when infrastructure is built in their area.

The advice office has ensured that these earnings – meagre and always short-lived – are turned into start-up capital for small enterprises. This innovative and imaginative use of government-funded projects is an inspiration. There is a widespread network of adult-education sites in this area and the advice office embarked on a series of training workshops to give people interested in starting micro-enterprises skills in saving, budgeting and running a small business.

Objectives and Programmes:

Creation of employment opportunities through various training programmes which includes: crop production training through the University of Fort Hare’s Department of Agriculture with a focus on the community being able to develop community gardens in their respective areas; training in auxiliary health care by the Department of Health.

Promotion of woman in the workplace through Legal Aid Board gender workshops – currently previous training in this regard has resulted in the election of 4 women as councillors in the area. The local municipality and other donors have also contributed funding to the Berlin Advice Office towards training of co-operatives in bookkeeping and management skills as well as contributing to sewing and garden projects owned by women.

Promotion of education and literacy programmes for all in the community but with a focus on providing assistance to orphans and vulnerable children. Classes are held that contribute towards development and improvement of literacy skills in communities. 3 500 learners are currently beneficiaries of this programme.