Our Stories

Land for People, Not for Profit!

We are labelled many things we are not – criminals, queue jumpers to mention a few. Here we control our own narrative, you can engage with our raw unfiltered stories, our struggles and our resilience.

Welcome to our stories about us, for us: connect with our daily lived stories.

Podcasts

Radio and podcasts

Reclaim the City has, through one of its projects, given a long-term home to over 1,000 people in Woodstock.

“Land for People, Not for Profit” How Unhoused People in Cape Town turned an abandoned hospital into community

Cissie Gool House was an abandoned hospital in Cape Town, South Africa, empty and decaying for 40 years, when homeless activists snuck past security on the night of March 27, 2017, and began an occupation that, seven years later, has transformed it into a vibrant self-governing community of 1,000 formerly homeless, evicted, and displaced people. Two leaders of Cissie Gool House, Karen Hendricks and Fagmeedah Ling, join host Desire Wandan to discuss how the residents themselves renovated the building, set up working committees to deal with elder, youth, maintenance and security issues, and expanded their occupation into a movement that now convenes “Peoples’ Assemblies” to teach others about tenants’ rights, fights evictions, monitors the housing courts, and agitates for enforcement of South Africa’s constitution, which declares that, “everyone has the right to have access to adequate housing.” Listen here: https://eastsideinstitute.podbean.com/e/women-lead-the-fight-for-housing-rights/
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