in loco fellows blog series #2: Becoming who, I will

October 2, 2019By RISE INT0 comment

For too long a time, I believed that success in the construction industry in the tiny Kingdom of Lesotho had been reserved for prominent professionals who have grown with stature in the country. That employment didn’t include all but those individuals for whom the society has great reverence. To an extent, there is truth to that; experience definitely sets precedence in a sense of surety, especially when we consider the amount of knowledge one should have when creating something as complex as a house. Even so, this is only a part of a large whole.

I got introduced to rise through one of the lecture series they run at my school. What caught my attention about these series, along with the film debate sessions, was the creation of an interactive space for people of predominately students and recent graduates of different disciplines within the built environment. This habitat was a rare yet an exciting setting to be part of, and a much needed one at that.

Kole taking a selfie with some of the other in loco fellows

My interest in the organization of rise grew amicably with each interaction, whether it be social media, or community donation drives. Then finally, I came upon an advertisement of a job application for the next cohort. I was religiously following the cohort progression of the GLC Centre by then, and I did not want to miss out on the amazing opportunity to become part of their pilot program, in loco. Without hesitation, I took a leap of faith, and after a couple of, what seemed all too long, weeks, I became part of the 2019 cohort fellowship.

Kole sitting on scaffolding with Retsepile – another Architecture fellow

In this venture I have learnt so many skills and trades that I had not thought I would have known in such a short space of time. The profound opportunity to amass a network of skillsets from young and eager individuals has truly been a mind changing experience. By going against the norm where people assume that in order to create a well built structure you have to be very experienced, but that’s not really the case because we are young graduates with not much experience, but we are erecting an iconic building in the country. I have been able to consistently challenge myself while harnessing plenty of techniques including carpentry, social media marketing, as well as my architectural designing craft.

The cohort has taught me that with the removal of a miniature mindset persona of having the experienced gain all the power, it invites a conversation that indulges with not just the freshly eager to work graduates, but also that these creative minds can also learn to create opportunities for themselves and others as well. Entrepreneurship is vital in our communities, and rise has helped me to learn how to harness that power to invoke a positive shift in a life of more than many.

My believes grown from rise can be combined in three words: challenge, change, cohesion.

Blog by Nkhole Thakhisi, fondly known as Kole.

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IN LOCO FELLOWS BLOG SERIES 2019 #1: I am because we are

September 18, 2019By RISE INT0 comment

My womanhood and age in a male dominated industry has always been a sharp piercing thorn in my side, for unlike most of my male counterparts who had pre-exposure to the built environment in their upbringing, for me it was the dawn of a new world.

In June I was scanning my Facebook newsfeed and I saw a poster about the fellowship. What struck me as odd was the call for recent graduates for too many times the prominence is on experience. After carefully nit-picking the poster, I decided to take a shot in the dark with marginal hope it would lead to a call for an interview on a random Wednesday afternoon.

Fast-forward a few weeks later, I’m accepted into the fellowship and I make a conscious decision for a radical mind-set shift. With this new conviction, I was and still am, open to learning new things, asking questions and never shying away from research. This rejuvenated outlook gave way for acquisition of immense knowledge in carpentry, researching, concrete mixing and social media marketing.

Moreover, it has translated into an understanding that the built environment is a boys’ club thus if I can’t beat them, I have to join them. And in amalgamation with them, what has shone through is the need to speak up and be assertive as a woman and school them and us (women in construction) into a culture that accepts and celebrates each other’s differences, promotes collaborative effort and championing for each other. In this regard, no gender will fall victim to having an inferiority complex.

The most phenomenal thing that rise has done is to provide a platform to learn, hone current skills and without fail, advocate for a teachable spirit which due to constant exposure to captains of industry is a must-have. Befittingly, this spirit is what enables one to learn from fellow fellows as we are a team that stems from diverse professions. And due to this, I am no longer just a water and environmental engineering graduate, but one with carpentry, social media marketing, communication, negotiation skills and so much more.

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IN LOCO FELLOWS BLOG SERIES #7: The fellowship has transformed the way I see myself

August 30, 2018By RISE INT1 Comment

Before I joined the fellowship, I had a secret fear that I’m not fit enough to be a professional architect and building contractor. For that reason, I had a tendency to be reluctant about sharing my designs on social media and not to take construction projects that came my way. Even when other people praised my work and capabilities, I convinced myself that they were just being nice. The in loco fellowship, however, transformed the way I see myself.

I’m Ramokoatsi Kobo, born on 17/03/1994 at Pitseng in Leribe District, Lesotho. I completed my high school in 2011 at Molapo High before I enrolled with Limkokwing University of Creative Technology pursuing Architecture technology from 2013-2017 ; I’m an Associate degree holder.

I joined JJN Design Studio based in South Africa in 2016, and got myself a chance to collaborate in Lesotho Tourism and Handicrafts architecture competition. The year after I joined Progressive Design Studio immediately after my graduation and that is where I found out about rise’s in loco fellowship program and applied.

The first two months of the fellowship I was introduced to how to make an elevator pitch and network, I equipped myself with tools needed on how to sell myself and ideas in 30 seconds. The skills learnt are all important but the one that stuck most in my head is BE PREPARED AND DO YOUR HOME WORK.

I broadened my understanding and the new way of gathering design briefs from clients through the concept called Participatory Design. It is an approach to design attempting to involve all the stakeholders in the design to ensure that results meet their needs and are usable. We used this approach to design a new habitat for the children of God’s Love Centre orphanage.

BUSINESS TRAININGS

One of the biggest contributions of this fellowship to my career was the business training sessions. After a couple of weeks we pitched business ideas in front of each other to find an interested person to partner with. I found my alter-ego who studied construction management. We formed a joint venture in construction and we have been mentored by our business coaches from day one with research and business planning. The idea of the business training sessions in a fellowship is to broaden our understanding in the business world, to become sustainable entrepreneurs and launch our businesses at the end of fellowship.

OTHER TRAININGS

There is a difference between paint and quality paint, “yes there is”. I got a chance to be a trainee at Thetsane Paint Centre which is the distributer of PROMINENT PAINT – the brand that adheres to international best practices and actively promotes the drive towards environmental sustainability. Through this training I’m now able to select paint based on the influences made by micro/macro climate; I know the fundamentals of surface preparation and calculations of DTF. I recommend the use of Prominent Paint Products!

I’m bold enough to say that if an accident happens in the workplace or anywhere, I can be a helpful first aider by preserving and promoting recovery to the casualty. The fellowship provided an opportunity for me to attend a First Aid Course offered by Oshem C at Montech Institute. I wouldn’t trade this for anything.

PEER TO PEER OUTCOME

What I most appreciated about my experience in the fellowship is being engaged with a group of international students who were passionate about the in loco project and truly shared generously their ideas, knowledge and time.

As the site architect, this helps me to hone my critical thinking skills to better understand how problems rooted from the design can be solved on a construction site. This role also helped me build my skills in public speaking and advocacy.

I’m not the same person thanks to this fellowship.

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Guest Blog: by Lujia Zhu – in loco International Workshop participant

August 25, 2018By RISE INT0 comment

Preparing for a possible bad 10-day experience….

I had to make a presentation on Lesotho and rise International for my protective parents in order to get the permission to join the workshop. I pulled images from Google and screenshot traveling tips from various embassy websites.

Surprisingly, it was easier to convince my parents than myself. Africa, very much generalized in my mind originally—regardless how many countries there actually are, is both romanticized by literature and tarnished by media. The culture, the weather and the living circumstances are something that I was the least familiar with. Up until I boarded the plane from Johannesburg to Maseru, I was mentally preparing myself for a possible bad 10-day experience.

I fell asleep as soon as I sat in my seat, and woke up shortly before descending. Outside the window, beige rocky hills, cliffs and canyons stretched out beyond the horizon. Riverbeds flowed across like serpents and were occasionally interrupted by square shadows of tiny houses. For me, it felt like viewing a kingdom of the Grand Canyon from a bird’s-eye view and immediately, I knew I had made the right choice to come here.

First impressions of Lesotho

Right away, I was welcomed by the staff from rise, other international students and local people on site. Everyone had a great sense of humor and very unique characteristics and personalities. The defensive barrier I always wear while traveling quickly vanished and I felt I had found a new family.

With little previous experience on a construction site, I was encouraged and greatly assisted to start hands-on tasks on day one. One of the biggest lessons I learned was how to adapt to a resources-limited working environment. I was very much spoiled by the shop technicians at school where everything was organized so well that all parts and pieces had their own spot and all the bits and blades were sharp. On site, however, when all twenty people were fighting for three tape measures and two hand drills, I found myself easily getting stuck and not knowing what to do without the tools. And quickly I learned to think outside the box and approach things differently.

Freedom of religion and free thinking

Among one of my many favorite facts about this program is that rise International was not founded on top of any religious beliefs. I have long since been looking for volunteer programs in low-income countries and often got fed up by people trying to convert me to believe in their faith. I don’t mean to offend anyone or be disrespectful, but I appreciate that rise simplified the entire mission to a design project. They see a problem, and they are trying to solve it through design and architecture knowledge, whether it is to build a dorm for an orphanage or something else. And that is all I asked for—to put my energy as a recent design graduate into projects that I am passionate about.

Memories for life….

In just ten days, I met architects, filmmakers, artists, engineers and recent graduates who had brilliant ideas of what to do in the future. I went to workshops, lectures, brainstorm panels, and listened to people who have travelled half of the world and work between continents sharing their thoughts and stories. Even two weeks after the trip ended, I still think back on this amazing experience. Everything I heard and saw will certainly influence my decision-making in the future, and will always be treasured in my memory.

News

rise update – May 2018

May 16, 2018By RISE INT0 comment

It has quite literally been a ground-breaking week for rise, as we FINALLY got out the spade and dug the first foundations for the residential center and business hub for vulnerable youth in Lesotho. Over 70 people turned up to celebrate with us and it was amazing to have the support of the Ministry of Social Development, local and international corporates, the local Chief and community members. Not to mention some of the inspirational youth who will benefit from the new building! None of it would have been possible without our awesome sponsors, stakeholders and partners that give their time, expertise and materials to our cause. Feeling proud here at rise!

Here is an artist’s impression of the residential center that we are NOW BUILDING! It was designed entirely by our in loco fellows and will house 6 girls and 6 boys, age 14+ who will be moved here from the desperately overcrowded GLC Orphanage close by. As well as being a safe home for the youth to live and finish school, the residence will help them transition to independent life as they will be launching their own sustainable small income generating activities. It’s so inspiring to be part of their ideas and to genuinely know that these initiatives will not only support them, but others in the community, for many years to come.

International Workshops – July & August

True to our core values, we work hard to build relationships and link expertise from around the world to make lasting change happen. There is no part of this project that isn’t living and breathing social enterprise and at every turn we equip the fellows, graduates, mentors and young orphans with skills that they can benefit from long term and share with others in the community. We believe this is a dignified and long-term path to development.

Part of this is our International Design & Build Workshops in July and August. These act as a hands on knowledge exchange between local fellows and international students, as well as help raise essential funds to make this project possible. We’re excited to see the results of this as our first cohort of adventurous students arrive from all over the world in July. We have a few places left to fill the workshops, so have extended the deadline for applications until 30th May. More information

Making your dollar stretch even further

BIG NEWS on the fundraising front; our co-founder and principal sponsor BOND events, who run networking events for the architecture industry in North & South America, have agreed to donate $1.67 for every $1 we raise.

Shop on Amazon and do good for the world!

This is doubly exciting, as we’ve signed up for Amazon Smile USA. So if you’re purchasing on Amazon PLEASE use Amazon Smile and put rise international as your charity of choice. What better way to feel good about your shopping! Start now

Words from the fellows….

We thought you might enjoy reading about our Lesotho project first hand; our local fellows have been bravely writing their first blogs, sharing some of their experiences of what it means to them to be part of the rise in loco fellowship team. These heartfelt and often witty words, offer an insight to the huge learning curve and day-to-day adventure these guys are on.

February by Palesa, March by Thandi, and April by Madane.

Coming to New York

Finally, our founder, Daniela Gusman, is going to be attending the Real Estate Weekly Women’s Forum, in NYC on June 5^th. It’s an honor to be invited as the only not-for-profit sponsor to this event, and to be able to share the innovative ideas and work of rise international with the leading innovators across the business spectrum. Daniela will be looking for industry experts with vision, who are keen to build a CSR program within the architecture and design community by partnering with rise. She will also be unveiling the exciting news about the launch of our architecture competition…designing residential houses for low-income families made from locally sourced materials! More about that to come….but if you’re in New York and interested in getting in touch to find out more, pop by and say hello at the event or email directly on daniela@riseint.org

Follow us live

Thank you for reading our newsletter and supporting us all here at rise International. Keep your eyes open for news on our build and ongoing work, as well our first step into Facebook LIVE, where we will be screening our guest lecture series at Lerotholi Polytechnic! These fascinating lectures, presented by industry experts, have included some interesting debates exploring many issues, relating to the significance of architecture, building from local materials, sustainable development in vulnerable communities and design failures when customers are not an integral part of the design process of any building, product or service.

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in loco fellows’ blog series #2

April 1, 2018By RISE INT2 Comments

MY TWO MONTHS EXPERIENCE AS A FELLOW

I have been staring at my pc for some time now, cracking my head on how to go about the task given to me or should I say that I volunteered to do.

My name is Thandi Mokoma, an Alumni of Limkokwing University of Creative Technology in Lesotho. I studied Architecture Technology (Associate Degree) and this is my story.

I have heard about ‘blogging’ before but never really had any interest in it, so believe me when I say this is my first blog. In just a few paragraphs I’m going to sum up the two good months of experiences as a rise in loco fellow. The program is like an adventure, one never knows what to expect next and what challenges and knowledge are just around the corner. The fellowship has taught me more than I had imagined, as a newly graduated Architecture Technology I feel my duties are diverse and ever changing, and these are some of the learnings I would like to share with you.

BUSINESS TRAINING

I guess before going for the business training workshops, I had my own thoughts and assumptions of what business training is all about, how formal the working environment is, the formal language used and specific corporate attire, and I wasn’t really looking forward to it. But to my surprise it was filled with fun, laughter, games and loads of new knowledge. We had fun energisers now and then, short dramas and educational games amongst a few. One of the many things we were taught at the business training was entrepreneurial skills and means of making your business known.

GUEST LECTURES

You know when they say ‘dreams come true!’ that’s exactly what happened to me. Being part of rise gives me a platform to meet people from different companies and organisations like World Bank amongst others. I had the opportunity to present our work to people from diverse cultures, race and backgrounds.

In addition, I had direct conversations and interactions with people from big companies attending our presentations. Some of the representatives from these well established companies would pick our brains on how they can make their own projects succeed with regards to what we are doing with the community project we have partnered with, God’s Love Centre, and the business-training workshop.

ATTENDING MEETINGS

Life can take you to places you never thought of going. I never pictured myself getting all dressed up going to a meeting, let alone negotiating with ‘the big bosses’ but that is what’s fascinating about my job at rise. I was not pinned down to one task and that really allowed opportunities that widened our horizons. The more we can test our limits and capabilities the more we will learn about ourselves.

I didn’t know much about scheduling meetings, attending meetings and how to adjourn a meeting. And my God, apparently there’s a specific way of giving handshakes!! Who knew?

ONE ON ONE MEETINGS

The first time we were made aware that we will be having one on one meetings with our coaches, I was reluctant and skeptical about them, little did I know how much I would learn about myself.

The questions asked got me to realise that I have been making excuses and barriers on why I haven’t started a business and maybe the biggest reason is the fear of failure. The meeting broke the ice, and a few days after I began making quince jam and I’m proud to say I SOLD EVERY JAR!

As I sign out, I would like to thank everyone who has read my blog, my coaches and my fellow workmates and team members who have made these two months an experience never to be forgotten.

With this program I believe I have exhausted most of my capabilities and yet we are only 2 months in, this has truly been a great learning experience and I will forever be indebted to all those who gave me a hand. Looking forward to many milestones in the remaining 6 months.

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Construction update

March 9, 2018By RISE INT0 comment

New piece of land acquired

Our community partner, God’s Love Centre (GLC) is overcrowded with 50+ children living in a 2 dorm-room house. Since the land on which the orphanage is located is quite small, we acquired an additional piece of land just 1 km up the road from the existing site. There are 200,000 orphans in Lesotho, which constitutes 10% of the population. Most of the other childcare facilities are also full to capacity, so unfortunately it is unlikely that the need for more housing for orphans is going to be resolved soon.

After a lot of discussions with GLC and the community at large, it was decided that the younger children up to 13 years old should remain at the existing site along with the Pre-school, and the adolescent youth from 14 upwards should be located at the new site, which will include various small businesses including an Internet Café, vegetable gardens and a piggery.

The in loco fellows are busy designing, planning, compiling the Bill of Quantities and negotiating with suppliers the best possible rates in order to keep construction costs down. Final drawings will be submitted to the authorities in March to obtain the building permit approval.

Refurbishment plans for existing site

The in loco fellows are busy planning all the improvements needed on the existing site including installation of water harvesting tanks to solve the problem of shortage of water, partitioning the dorm rooms so that children have more privacy, expansion of kitchen, re-allocation of pit latrines to make better utilisation of outdoor space to create play areas for the children as well as increase the vegetable growing areas and installing a roof over the converted shipping container where the pre-school is located so that the classrooms don’t get so hot in the afternoon sun. Renovation works should commence later on in March (subject to funding).

Existing site Proposed layout for refurbished site