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After reading about the Diepkloof Extreme Park, a group of American college students and their lecturer just had to see the efforts of South African people to take control of their lives.
Diepkloof’s Xtreme Park is extremely popular
THE transformation of a dusty piece of vacant land into the Diepkloof Extreme Park has not only aroused interest in South Africa - international eyes have also been opened by the change.
On 19 May, a group of students and their lecturer from Simmons College in Boston, in the United States, came to visit the park about which they had read. They wanted to see what had been managed in just 24 hours.
The park got its name from the rapid extreme makeover it had undergone.
This is the third year that the college has come to South Africa. "In our first year we looked at the status of women in the country and last year we focused on human rights issues," said Dan Connell, who lectures in journalism and African politics.
Connell said that they decided to visit the park after they read about it in a newspaper in the US. "We saw that the park was a good initiative within a black community. We want people to see the efforts by South African people to take control of their lives.
"Transformation of the environment seems like a great initiative in dealing with social issues."
The park is a real transformation story. Just over a year ago, it was an open space, unloved and filled with litter. Now it has a multipurpose court, a big television screen, a soccer field, ablution facilities, water features and expression walls. It is well maintained and has 24-hour security.
People can come over to watch television anytime they want. "But we do not allow children during school hours unless its holidays," said Jenny Moodley, City Parks' marketing director.
Even though no-one has yet written on the expression walls, people are allowed to write and express themselves in any way they want.
Community buy-in
During the planning phase, City Parks invited the Diepkloof community to contribute and share what they would like from a park. "We consulted the community about what they wanted and involved them in the construction of the park," said Bukelwa Njingolo, the senior manager of the project management unit in City Parks.
"The people who maintain the park are also from this community. This creates a sense of ownership."
The park also has historical significance: there is a memorial to Vuyani Mabaxa, an ANC activist who was killed by apartheid police in 1991.
"The mayor approached us and said we needed to restore integrity and dignity to the place," explained Moodley.
City Parks won a gold award for the Diepkloof Extreme Park at the Liveable Communities Awards ceremony held in Dongguan City, China on 10 November 2008.
LivCom, as the awards are known, is a United Nations Environmental Programme initiative that recognises those cities and municipalities that are making an effort to create liveable spaces for their inhabitants. It has been running for over 12 years.
The Diepkloof park is not the only extreme park City Parks has undertaken. In June 2007, it opened its first, in Wilgeheuwel in Roodepoort. Then, proving that it was perfecting the art, in March this year it built another extreme park in Protea Glen, in Soweto - in just six hours.
The visit from the Simmons College students and the award shows that the fame of Diepkloof Extreme Park has spread, and it is likely to get even more exposure internationally. When they return home they will be required to write about their experience and what they learned in their newspaper and on their blogs.
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