Curtis Lowe

The room was hot—not from the weather, but from the sheer heat of frustration. A Tuesday evening in the church basement, folding chairs scraping the linoleum as neighbors shifted, arms crossed. The city council had just signed off on another round of funding for a tech park on the north side, yet our block still … Read moreTaking Back the Ledger: Why We Need a Say in How Our Money Gets Spent

I’ve sat through more community meetings than I care to count where the same three voices take over, nothing gets settled, and everybody walks out more annoyed than when they arrived. A neighbourhood assembly doesn’t have to be that way. Structure it properly, and it turns into a space where actual decisions happen, neighbours get … Read moreHow to Run a Neighborhood Assembly That Actually Works

The Power Is Already in Your Building When I first started talking to neighbors about our broken elevator and the mold spreading through the bathroom ceilings, I thought someone else would fix it. The landlord, maybe. The city. Someone. But nothing changed until we stopped waiting. We knocked on doors, gathered phone numbers, and sat … Read moreWhy Tenant Organizing Is the Most Effective Housing Strategy

When the bulldozers show up in a neighborhood, they don’t just knock down walls. They rip at the threads holding people together. I’ve seen it play out on my own block—families who’d been in the same house for generations suddenly find an eviction notice taped to the front door because somebody decided their land was … Read moreThe Problem With Development That Displaces Residents

The Quiet Revolution on Our Street Corners Walk down certain blocks around here and you might catch something unexpected: a refrigerator parked outside a community center, a church, or a corner shop. It’s painted with bright murals, and there’s usually a simple sign that says Take what you need, leave what you can. These aren’t … Read moreHow Community Fridges Address Food Waste and Hunger

Twenty years on these streets. I raised my kids here, learned every cracked sidewalk, watched the corner shops turn over. But the day a plain white fridge appeared outside the old community center—hand-painted sign, nothing fancy—something in the block’s rhythm changed. Not charity air-dropped from somewhere else. An answer we built ourselves, right where two … Read moreHow Community Fridges Take On Waste and Hunger at the Same Time

When a flood tears through a valley or a fire climbs a hillside, the first ones to show up aren’t helicopters or national agencies. It’s the neighbours. The grandmother who knows exactly which ditch will flood first. The fisherman who reads the river’s mood by the colour of the water. In those early hours, it’s … Read moreWhy Local Knowledge Should Lead Disaster Response

I remember standing in a dusty community hall parking lot with three crates of cabbages, a borrowed bakkie, and a list of thirty households who hadn’t eaten properly in two days. That was the real start of our food network. No grant funding, no warehouse, just neighbours telling me where the hunger was deepest. If … Read moreHow to Build a Food Distribution Network From Scratch

I can still picture that church hall. Just me, a few bags of maize meal, some dented tins of beans, and a stubborn feeling that nobody in my neighbourhood should go to bed hungry. My name is Patricia Ndlovu. I didn’t wait for permission. I started our food network in Diepsloot with my own two … Read moreStarting a Food Distribution Network When All You Have is Anger and a Few Bags of Maize

I started with a few crates of vegetables from my garden and a stubborn feeling that nobody on our streets should go to bed hungry. That feeling pushed me further than I ever planned. We now move hundreds of kilograms of fresh food every week, and it all kicked off with a single chat on … Read moreGetting Food Where It’s Needed, One Neighbour at a Time