Context is everything.

Insight #1 in our series on Community Economy Development

Why do individual success stories so rarely add up to a stronger community economy? The answer starts with something we almost skipped past: understanding a community isn't a step before the work begins. It's the work itself.

A personal reflection on the complexity of working with township communities.

Our Community Economy Hub. 5 months old.

Bloemfontein. August 2025. Namibia Township. We invited the community to share what matters for a good life. 53 people gathered, aged 15 to 68.

If you followed the sound of a hand drill down a sunlit lane in South Africa, you’d find him. Sleeves rolled, eyes steady, hands doing what the world too often forgets to try: mending. Around him, scrap becomes story. He doesn’t argue with rust. He answers it.