Given Faxa and his expanded team of 6 are tackling the CBD in preparation for #NAF2019.
The team is grateful for the leadership and financial support of Makana Revive and is committed to helping Makhanda / Grahamstown put on its best face for Fest.
Oatlands Park has been a useful “test and learn”. It’s demonstrated the impact of regular cleaning and a little “love and care”. Refer selection of “before and after” pics.
The expanded area to be cleaned. Somerset Street between High Street (Drostdy Arch) and African Street. High Street from Arch up to Old Station / Kingswood. African Street (from High to Kingswood) including Oatlands Park. The area under care is subject to change depending on needs.
Work started Sunday, will continue through Fest and for at least the next three months.
The team is doing their best to work with the municipal refuse collection time-table. Further assistance of any form will be greatly appreciated. Black bags, loose tools and equipment, a smile and wave of encouragement, lunch etc etc. It’s a big job and the team welcomes all support.
Fest approaches. We’re in for a double-whammy treat and cash injection. Another big opportunity to demonstrate that in these trying times we can work as a community and put on our best face. I encourage all to spruce up our precious little city. Keep your patch clean, tend your verge. Smile, laugh and be happy.
GRAEME HOLMES
Before moving back to Grahamstown in Oct 2017, Graeme was a bank executive based in the big smoke and craziness of Joburg. He has 20 years’ experience in the Payments Industry. He is a Chartered Accountant, has a Masters in Management by Research (MMR) from Wits Business School, and attended an Advanced Management Programme (AMP) offered by INSEAD (The Business School for the World!) in France.
Graeme is the founder of The Grahamstown Project. It’s simple. He says, “Grahamstown is a microcosm of South Africa. If we can’t get this place to function properly then the whole country is stuffed. Many of the troubles we experience as a country today have their roots here in Grahamstown. it is here where black and white people first engaged in conflict on the African continent. It is here where 9 wars of dispossession over 100 years took place and virtually destroyed the amaXhosa nation. But we are where we are. I don’t have a British passport and the boat-trip back to where my ancestors came from is exorbitantly expensive. Furthermore, this is my home. I am a son of Africa. We must work together to redress the injustices of the past and move as one into a brighter future.”
Graeme is an avid historian, writer, vlogger and public speaker. Like and follow the Facebook page. Join him on a tour. Contact him. He would love that.