Author: Chief. Kagisho Molema

From humble beginnings to a rough start.
Alpha Fransman is a short woman with a long heart, and a big vision. Whilst we seek lofty positions and want to rub shoulders with the rich and fabulous, Alpha’s plea is simple: “take me to the alley, take me to the afflicted ones, take me to the lonely ones that somehow lost their way”, like in the song of Gregory Porter. Alpha’s story begins in Okiep. Many of you will wonder where that is. If you find yourself in Okiep then just know you are in Namakwa, you can locate it on the map as Springbok in the Northern Cape province in South Africa. As she was growing up, her dad moved their family to Elsies River in Cape Town. They were in search of a better life, instead they received a rough landing. At some point they lived in a tent, and rain often meant attending school in soaked uniform. It was not an easy journey by any stretch of imagination. The house they moved to when they left the tent, they had to build it themselves, and more, with the bricks that they had to make themselves. Even the water they drunk, it came from a well they had to dig. Pause, and let your imagination run through this scene.

From civil servant to community champion.
Alpha is the Manager of Railton Foundation; a nonprofit organisation engaged in community development in Railton, the township of Swellendam in the Western Cape. One would think the most important part of her job would be to clothe the naked, feed the hungry, and free the bonded, but she corrects me and says, “the most important aspect of her job is community consultation. “As a developer you don’t want to impose your will on the people, therefore you should ask them what they want before you impose your wishes on them” says Alpha. These are some of the lessons she has picked up as a government official working for the municipality for fifteen years. She was the Regional Manager in the property services department of City of Cape Town. In that role she had the privilege to work with communities in disadvantaged areas like Khayelitsha, Mfuleni, Delft and so forth.

She quickly came to terms with the struggles that people faced around red tape, applications and accessing the offices which are usually far from them. Things changed dramatically when the smaller municipalities merged and became the City of Cape Town metro. There were so many difficulties in reaching services. The decision-making process took too long, and to her that was a bother.
She grew up in similar areas as the communities she was serving, she was intimate with their world because it had been her own world before. She took a decision to resign after realising there is more she could do to help. She started a consulting company and did consultation in those areas, helping people apply for services like acquiring land. While she was doing that, she became closer to the people, helping churches and creches to acquire stands and develop communities.

From Cape Town to Swellendam via Kimberly.
This consultation quest led her into events when someone had asked her to help organise an event. It was a talent search, they went to different districts around the Western Cape searching for talent. Out of that, she got an opportunity to work for a big events company where amongst other things, they organised the Northern Cape Writer’s Festival in Kimberley. Again, out of that event she got another opportunity – she met Mark Barends, a psychologist and they clicked. Mark had an NPO and partnered with Alpha to help with the NPO, and so she invested her money and time in the NPO and did another talent show in the vast province of Northern Cape. They acquired property in Kimberley where they could run various programmes from. Some of the most notable outcomes of her tenure in Kimberly was the beautification of schools doing murals which made national news. They helped to develop skateboarding in the local communities, where kids got an opportunity to participate in.

Cape Town called her name once again when she was offered a job that was too good to be true. She left Kimberley swiftly to clinch that new opportunity. Come month-end, her new employers failed to pay her. She spent Christmas without food. It felt like a spiral into hell. The following month of January, a friend referred her to Basil May, who interviewed her for the Managerial position of the Railton Foundation. Soon thereafter she visited Swellendam to see the operations for herself. It was an immediate decision. The organisation found her accommodation at a self-catering unit for 3 months before she found a place of her own. What a journey it has been thus far.

When I enquire if poverty is the cause of all the social ills in communities like Railton. This no-nonsense auntie refuses to take poverty as an excuse for not rising above your circumstances. She is well acquainted with poverty. “If anyone wants to argue about being poor, they must come to me” she says referring to her experience in Elsie River. The problem is complex; in her work she bemoans the youth’s lack of motivation in seizing opportunities. People start the journey and before they can complete the journey they fall out for various reasons. She must battle such mindsets where people feel no incentive to maximise on the opportunities that they have been presented with.

Alpha praises her parents for instilling a sense of self-respect and pride within them. Regardless of their circumstances, her parents insisted they leave the house neat and clean. She notices a culture of men staying at home and the women going to work. The kids end up roaming the streets. The use of alcohol and drugs increases. So does the gender-based violence. As we try to navigate the layers and the complexities of poverty, we land on what seems like the core of the problem: lack of self-worth and self-respect. The unjust history of this country stripped people of more than just land, but their self-worth and self-reliance. Here is Alpha in her 60’s, she continues to toil with the energy of a young activist. You ask her, why does she still do this work? Her answer is simple: her parents. They are the reason why she still works today. Her parents never expected them to do something that they did not do themselves. The work ethic that their parents instilled in them is the basis of the self-respect that she keeps emphasizing. She is grateful to have been raised by upright people who shunned begging, they set a strong example for them. Alpha laid her mother to rest recently, but her legacy lives on.

As life is a cycle itself, the ups and downs cannot be avoided. In 2019 just as the whole world was starting to face trouble, the organisation found itself in a bit of financial difficulty, thus being unable to pay salaries. Alpha had to retreat to Cape Town. She continued applying for funding vigorously. In 2020 when COVID19 hit, it was a stroke of fortune because during the lockdown she was at home with her family instead of being isolated in Swellendam. She applied for funding for Railton Foundation and in 2021, they got funded.

The Hope strategy
Her proudest moment in her journey with the Railton Foundation is the growth of the people who have worked or volunteered in the Foundation. They took in the knowledge she was imparting, some enrolled and have completed programmes and qualifications. From that team of volunteers, you have a teacher, an auxiliary social worker, a customer relations officer at DSD, a communications officer at Swellendam Municipality, and a photographer, just to name a few. Recently one of her mentees called her with excitement that he has gotten a promotion at work from being a handyman to a salesman. They still volunteer whenever they can, and some always ask when the organisation is going to receive more funding because they want to come back and work for Railton Foundation on a fulltime basis. She carries the hope that it is possible in the near future.

Railton Foundation is a member of the Community Arts Centres Network of the Western Cape (CACNET). Two years ago, CACNET collaborated with the Business School of the University of Stellenbosch whereby they developed a short course for Art Centre managers. Two of the volunteers from the Foundation underwent this course, passed it, and became certified in Art Centre Management. It swells her heart with joy to know that her work is not some pie in the sky idea because she can point and introduce you to people they have developed. That is real impact.

This road is not without its disappointments. For three years they had sent youngsters to become part of The Homeless Football World Cup. They went to such places like Oslo and Mexico. Upon returning, unfortunately two of them relapsed into habits that are detrimental to themselves and their families. Perhaps society does not offer them the necessary support. The journey of relaying self-help to others is a difficult one. Many factors are beyond your control, because change does not always happen overnight especially where the root cause is deep. You can also only help the people who want to accept the help.

How can the community of Swellendam assist and get involved? She encourages young people who are about to leave school to volunteer at the organisation even if it is only for a week because they can put that in their CV’s when they look for work after school. I personally encourage people who are working full-time and have the financial means to also give a few hours of their life periodically to intentionally practice such acts of kindness. Volunteering is serving humanity and it has been proven to reduce anxiety and depression, and we all need to be of service to others in order to reach our own personal fulfilment. At times when she was losing hope people raised their hands in the community and volunteered at a crucial time. Some people are even currently volunteering for their food garden programme and the wors-roll station at Pick n Pay. It is these people who do the work with big smiles on their faces that are really carrying the spirit of the Foundation forward. It is also the people above 50 who are always willing to volunteer, and Alpha would like to pair the young with the old, to also impart knowledge on a two-way street.

The biggest thing for Railton Foundation is to find a home where they can operate. They have a piece of land. They are looking for companies to invest in this building which is in the middle of Railton. They want a state-of-the-art multi-purpose centre with a theatre style, meeting rooms, lecture hall and so forth so that the organisation can generate an income with conferencing, exhibitions and so forth. Even offering shuttle services to the venue, plus a coffee shop and small business stalls. The main idea is to optimise the space while generating an income for long-term sustainability. You can contribute to this project by buying many wors-rolls, because for every wors roll you purchase, you are indeed buying a brick that will soon have the Multi-purpose Centre up in Railton. There is an event on the 24^th of September where Railton Foundation invites everyone to come hear more and support this initiative. The building plans have been approved. “We want to create a place where people who come for help, become the help to others. The vision is bigger than soup kitchens” concludes Alpha Fransman.

Out of this conversation I understand that Alpha just wants people to know there is hope and they are responsible for creating the world that they want to live in. Words that are the essence of my own findings in the book I authored, We Are World Creators. When there is hope, things can change. Whatever God or thing that keeps you grounded, hold on to it and keep actioning this and that. This conversation left me feeling more hopeful than I had in a while.

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