Community
The people of Nzulezo have a strong sense of togetherness especially in their relations with and dependence on each other. They know themselves quite well because of the relatively small size and remoteness of the settlement, so visitors or immigrants (either for marriage or work) are spotted right away. The layout of the stilt structures are not done haphazardly; each household has their own alleyway with father/mother, sons/daughters and their individual families cohabiting along this shared corridor that is semi-public. The community centre is where most public gatherings take place as well as where visitors are briefed on the site. Any donations made are also received and recorded here. Through the Nzulezo Stilt Village Tourism Project the community feels more ownership and responsibility to benefit from and take care of the (eco)tourism of the site. Construction strengthens the sense of community because the people help each other out with labour and materials for no fee. However, with tourism getting more popular in the area, most of the youth become tour guides except when they are contracted elsewhere (e.g. construction of Aqua Makarios restaurant).
We held a community workshop with different demographic groups. The children specifically made sketches of what Nzulezo meant to them. This collaboration with the community for knowledge exchange was useful during the analysis of the gathered data.
to the archive