Page 100 - Research & Innovation Report 2020

HEALTH SCIENCES

Live among the people,

learn from them

Dr Busi Lujabe, a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Social Development Professions,
lived in the township and informal settlement of Wells Estate in Ward 60 to engage first-hand
with the community for her research.

“I thought, let me start where I am,” says Dr Lujabe. “I stay in
Blue Water Bay in Ward 60 adjacent to Wells Estate – a low
income human settlement area with a combination of RDP houses
and shacks. It was created to accommodate informal settlement
dwellers from all over Nelson Mandela Bay but there is so little
employment in the area that it has created widespread food
insecurity.”

For her NRF-funded postdoctoral research project she chose to
contribute towards solutions to addressing food insecurity in low-
income households, so she moved to Wells Estate in March 2019
for a year, renting an RDP house.

“My move to the community to engage in participatory action
research was inspired by 20th century Chinese educator Dr James
Yen who said ‘Go to the people, live among them, learn from them,
love them, serve them, plan with them, start with what they know,
build with what they have’,” explains Dr Lujabe, whose research
is co-hosted by Prof Veonna Goliath, head of the Department
of Social Development Professions and Prof Blanche Pretorius, a
Mandela University research associate.

“The first thing I did was to start listening to the stories of the
people in the community, and consulting with the Ward 60
councillor and community development worker in Wells Estate to
find out what was happening in the area,” Dr Lujabe explains.

“Most households frequently go to bed without food and there
are very few job opportunities. Many people are getting grants
but these don’t cover much in terms of a sustainable livelihood.
Many people sleep on the floor in overcrowded homes and in the
morning they roam the streets because there’s no space and they
need to find something to eat. There is a lot of drug abuse and the
atmosphere is volatile with a high incidence of mugging. When people are jobless and I observed a strong sense of ubuntu.
someone dies they often remain in the state mortuary for months People without enough money would make umngqusho, or mielie
because there is no money to bury them. meal pap or vetkoek and share with people who do not have.”

“At the same time I encountered so many people who have a An important part of the participatory action research process
passion for their community. They are concerned that young was to identify priorities. “We identified what assets people have

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