Oral history of Kenneth Gardens comes to life in new book

A BOOK telling the story of Kenneth Gardens from the mouths of former and past residents will be launched at Phansi Museum, 500 Esther Roberts Road, Glenwood, on Thursday, 2 August at 5.30pm for 6pm.

Entitled Voices of Resilience – A living history of Kenneth Gardens Housing Estate in Durban, the book was written by Monique Marks, Kira Erwin and Tamlynn Fleetwood, following years of involvement with the municipal housing estate in Umbilo.

Speaking about the background to the book, Monique said she used to drive past Kenneth Gardens every day and always wondered what went on in the estate.

“I was interested about the place and the people who lived there and wanted to know more. As I was working with Kira at the university at the time, we spoke about it. She had a personal interest in Kenneth Gardens as she grew up there,” she said.

Monique said she and Kira met with residents to engage on ways they could work together which would benefit the university as well as the residents. She said she didn’t realise in 2010 that this work would go on for years.

In the course of carrying out surveys, the group saw there was a need for intervention in relation to health care and things young people living at Kenneth Gardens could do such as computer skills, as well as the need for something for Glenmore Primary School children to do in the afternoon. They worked together with Senzokuhle, a health care group at Kenneth Gardens, to establish a wellness centre in partnership with DUT, started a digital programme with the youth as well as a Capeoira programme at Glenmore Primary and modern dance classes with the Flatfoot Dance Company.

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“At the same time as running these projects, we wanted to understand the history of Kenneth Gardens as nothing was documented or written. Information was scattered and we wanted to do something to document history from below, with memories and experiences of the people who lived there pre-apartheid, during the transition and currently, this is how the idea for the book came about,” she said.

The estate, says Monique, has changed dramatically from when it was first built in the ’40s. The interesting architecture and planning with flats facing each other around a central garden shows a sense of community. She said this was to her the most diverse space in Durban where people of different races, ethnicities, ages and political affiliation all live together. “Kenneth Gardens teaches lessons of how to cohabit and create meaningful relationships such as the Carrots and Peas soup kitchen and Senzokuhle. The book tells stories of people and what it means to live in a housing estate, and how to interface across divisions. The book also contains a photo essay by documentary photographer Cedric Nunn which shows how important it is to have places to meet up, be it the washing line or staircases, as this creates a sense of community,” she said.

With the desperate neglect of the estate one would think a lot of people would want to leave Kenneth Gardens but this is not the case. “It’s an interesting place. People who have lived there have gone through hardships, but this creates important bonds and makes people resilient, hence the title of the book. People there are able to create their own mechanisms of survival and coping,” she said.

Monique said it took two years for the authors to collect the stories and writing up the book took fairly long, however she was ‘thrilled’ it has happened.

“The most important thing is the significance this book has for residents of Kenneth Gardens, it tells their story through their eyes and lenses. It is also a tribute to those people who shared their oral history but died before the book was published. There is a lot of excitement in Kenneth Gardens that this book is coming out!” she said.

The book will be available at major local booksellers and according to Monique, some libraries and universities have asked for copies for their shelves.

“This book would be interesting for anyone as it is very local and shows that Durban as a city has something to teach,” she said.

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