2009 for Shoebox Homes

What's in store for us for 2009?

NEW PRODUCTS BY NEW DESIGNERS!

Earlier this year we conducted some research in a few disadvantaged communities. We asked residents their furniture needs and preferences. With this information we have formed an exciting design brief that will be sent to designers across South Africa and beyond.

These designers will submit new space-saving furniture designs for Shoebox to market and manufacture and deliver to those living in over-crowded spaces. We are excited to see the new designs and believe there is a wealth of untapped design potential in this field.

Here are some current design ideas that we like at the moment:

Shoebox Year Ending

Shoebox Homes is quiet at the moment... We pack up our office for the summer holidays next week, reopening on 8th January. As we begin to look back at 2008, wee see that it has been a full year and that great strides forward have been taken. We have:

• Finalised the design of the Nested Bunk Bed
• Found an excellent manufacturer (Woodform)
• Researched (and are developing) other space-saving furniture
• Qualified, if not won, 5 prestigious design awards
• Manufactured 40 of the bed units: a total of 200 beds!
• Distributed the beds to over 55 homes across South Africa
• Created safe, comfortable, dry, and spacious sleeping conditions that benefit approx. 300 children!
  

This is a huge impact!

To the Shoebox team of management, manufacturers, fundraisers, assemblers, and drivers, well done! You can be proud of the amazing impact you've had on this exciting journey!

And to the many wonderful funders, thank you for your generousity. Your contribution has made all of this possible and has been an integral part of the development and delivery of the bunk beds.

2009 holds many dreams for us as Shoebox Homes... More about that in the next post...

Focus on: Ashley Stemmett

Ashley Stemmett is currently the DIY editor at Home Magazine - SA's leading Decor, DIY, Gardening and Food magazine. He has a long history in design and is particularly interested in multifunctional furniture and how it can benifit the lives of people living in particularly small spaces. His involvement with Shoebox Homes followed the 36sqm Challenge - where he was one of the 'judges' on behalf of Home magazine. He now enjoys the exciting collaboration with Aram, Charles, Sam and Tsai and looks forward to seeing how Shoebox Homes products will benefit communities in the future.

Here's an example of Ash's great work: a beautiful multi-purpose coffee table and storage facility:

Third Bed to Bathandwa Children's Home

It is with great joy that we delivered the third bed to Bathandwa Children's Home this week. Our generous donor, Mr John Philips, kindly sponsored the bed that went upstairs in the room of the older children. It has replaced old and damaged beds that the children used to sleep on.

I had the pleasure of meeting Mr Philips just two weeks ago, during a visit of his to Cape Town. I showed him the beds installed at Bathandwa. Thank you, John, again for your support and generousity.

Last Bed for 2008!
Sadly, this is the last bed to be installed for 2008. We are awaiting new funding before we can start manufacturing the next order of beds. Over 90 requests for beds are pending!

Here are the pics of the new Nested Bunk Bed at Bathandwa:

Shoebox Goes Green with the AgriPlanner Course!

This week I (Sam) was at a fantastic Agri-Business course. Designed and run by the South African Institute of Entrepreneurs, I was thoroughly impressed with teh course content and the experiential way it was presented.

Agriplanner trains small-scale farmers to make a living from their land. We learnt basic farming skills such as what crops to grow in Cape Town and how long each one takes before giving a 'return'. We were actually being trained to train others, so we were also taught how to pass on these skills as well as other 'go to market' strategies.

At Shoebox, we aim to support people living in overcrowded and disadvantaged communities. With the Agriplanner course content, we are excited to explore the possibility of supporting individuals to make a living from their small gardens.

Any thoughts or suggestions? Write a comment or send us an email!

Exciting New Products at Headspace at CPUT

Today I was at Headspace - an exhibition of work from CPUT students. CPUT, the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, have a great design department and I have enjoyed connecting with some of the staff and students.

Of particular interest, of course, was the space-saving designs. I saw some great work by the students. Interestingly, all of it was made of Xanita, or X-Board. This is a recycled, low-cost board that is made just outside of Cape Town. I am not convinced of it's long term durability, however, it is great to see such an innovation in this area.

Here are some pics (low-res), of the students' work:

Photos from Saartjie Baartman

Here are the before and after pics from the Saartjie Baartman Centre for Women and Children in Surrey Estate, Cape Town:

Busy Week!

This week we have been very busy finishing off the delivery of the beds sponsored by the Ackerman Pick n Pay Foundation. Bringing the total delivered bed units up to 59, we delivered the following:

1. Two more bed units to Langa residents, through the SOS Family Strengthening Programme. These went to the Kewana and Cira Families. The Kewana home is pictured here:



2. Two bed units to The Salvation Army's Carehaven (increasing their capacity rather than replacing older bunk beds). Here's a picture of Sam with Captain Alexina.


3. Lastly, another bed went to the Saartjie Baartman Centre (see next post because there are lots of pics!)

Thank you to the Ackerman Pick n Pay Foundation for your generousity and valuable support. We could not have done this without you!

Home of Hope, Milnerton

Yesterday we delivered a two-bunk and three-bunk version of the nested bunk bed to Home of Hope. This immaculately-kept home for young women, based in Milnerton already had very modern bunk beds. The Shoebox Homes donation has allowed Home of Hope to use the existing beds in one of their other facilities.

It is great that the bunk beds can benefit people in need both directly and indirectly! Here's a photo of Peto, the house supervisor, with the beds:

Delivering with SOS Family Strengthening Programme

This week we delivered to Langa, a relatively small and established township close to central Cape Town. We were working in partnership with SOS - an organisation that runs children's villages and a 'Family Strengthening Programme'.

We delivered three bunk bed units, again sponsored by the Ackerman Pick n Pay Foundation.

1. The Manele Family, before and after:



2. The Makuluza Family


3. The Norman Family

Care for Kids Part Three - Completion!

Last week we installed the final bed unit with the Care for Kids programme. This bunk bed, sponsored by the Ackerman Pick n Pay Foundation, went to the Plaatjies family in Khayelitsha.

The Plaatjies home (a shack) was initially too small for the bed. However, the Care for Kids team supported the family in extending the home. The bed now fits and the house is bigger!

[photo removed]

Delivering to the Njila Family - last house in Mbekweni!

This week we finished delivering the twenty units to Mbekweni! It's been a great experience spending time in Mbekweni and we have met and worked with some excellent people. Thanks to Ikhwezi Community Centre for facilitating the entire process and to the Ackerman Pick n Pay Foundation for their generous funding.

Here's Sam with Mrs Njila and some of her children:

Black Umbrella's New Site

Our sister organisation, Black Umbrellas, launched their website this week. They are a great organisation - supporting emerging black business in their formative stages. There is such a crucial need for this in South Africa. Shoebox Homes is so proud to be associated with Black Umbrellas. Check out the site by clicking on the logo below:

Care for Kids Part Two

Two more families, both supported by Care for Kids, received their beds this week. Care for Kids appears to be an awesome organisation that is well managed and having a big impact on orphans and vulnerable children across Cape Town.

The Gunuza Family
Before:

After:

The Ruiters' Family
The second family has a particularly exciting story. Their church community decided to add to the donation of the bed and redecorate the childrens' bedroom! It looks stunning with bright lime green walls and colourful fairy-tale curtains.

Before:

After:

[photo removed]

New 3-bunk version of the Nested Bunk Bed!

We are now selling the bunk bed as a three piece unit. We are very excited about this - the "triple-bunk" is better for smaller homes and comes at a new reduced price! Here's the ad that's going live in the next week in South Africa:

Care for Kids

This week we began a new project with Care for Kids, an organisation that supports churches looking after orphans and vulnerable children. Care for Kids is run from The Warehouse, a trust in Wynberg, Cape Town that forms the social-outreach arm of St John's Parish.

Together with Care for Kids, Shoebox Homes is installing beds in five different home across Cape Town. It's been a great week and we have met some wonderful and grateful people. The first two homes received their beds this week:

1. The Beukes Family, Gugulethu.




2. The Mabanga Family, Mxengi.

[photo removed]

Renovating in Mbekweni

About three weeks ago, we did some further work in the home of the Scott family in Mbekweni township. Their two room house (sleeping 15 people!) had a pokey kitchen and not enough sleeping space. In addition to providing the compact Nested Bunk Bed, we moved the kitchen wall and added a new door between the kitchen/main room and the second room. We also gave Mrs Scott some design/layout suggestions for her furniture so as to increase the space in the home.

Here are some of the pics before the walls have been plastered:

Delivering to the Hlanza and Mbembe Families

Two beds were installed this week in Mbekweni, bringing our total to 19! Our target is 20, so we've only got one more to go!

Mrs Hlanza received three beds in her home, improving the sleeping conditions for the seven people who live in her home (the room is not big enough to take the full five beds).

Before:
After:

Then we went over to the Mbembe home, who actually live in Fairyland very near Mbekweni. Like Mrs Hlanza, Mrs Mbembe also received three beds. However, after some design suggestions (simply rearranging furniture) more space will be created and we will be delivering the last two beds in the next week!

Before:

After:

Focus On: Y. Tsai

Y. Tsai is a Cape Town-based architect who runs Tsai Design Studio. He is the designer of our main product - the Nested Bunk Bed. He also contributed to Aram's moving wall idea by detailing some of Aram's concepts.

Tsai sits on the board of Shoebox Homes and is a key contributor to the activities of our organisation. We are always making demands on him for new designs, assembly instructions for the beds, and countless other tasks! Check out his website here.

Delivering to the Daweti and Lufele Families

We have almost completed our delivery to the twenty families in Mbekweni township. This week we delivered to two more:

The Daweti family did not have space for all five beds, so we gave them the three-bed version. They were immediately thrilled! There are a lot of people living in this three-room home, so the impact of the beds is immediately felt.

At this house we also did some design work- removing an unnecessary internal wall. This has opened up the kitchen/lounge, creating a lighter and more spacious room. Design and renovation work is something we want to increase at Shoebox.

Before:

After:
The second home, the Lufele family, also received the three-bed version. The beds neatly fit in their second bedroom, which used to have only one single bed. We have thus increased the sleeping space by 4-fold, a huge impact for this lovely family.

Before:

After:

Delivering to Bathandwa Children's Home

Last week we delivered two bunk beds to Bathandwa, a children's home in Khayelitsha (about one hour outside of Cape Town). The two beds, sponsored by a gentleman in Canada, have replaced 5 rickety old bunk beds that were literally falling apart.

The new mattresses that come with the beds have replaced spoiled and thin mattresses that the children used to sleep on.

The beds have also doubled the play area in the room - a vital need for children, especially in wet winter days.

Bathandwa's staff have expressed enormous thanks. They have shared the positive impact that the beds have made on the lives of the children and on the home as a whole. This whole experience has been very fulfilling! Here are the before and after pics:

Before:

After:

Focus On: Sam Adams

Sam Adams is the Project Manager at Shoebox Homes. He is responsible for managing the manufacturing of the Nested Bunk Bed, the delivery to end users, and all the nitty-gritty responsibilities along the way!

Sam has added significantly to the organisation since his arrival in April. His management skills have greatly increased the output and successful activities of Shoebox. Here's a picture of Sam at our storeroom in Woodstock.