Tired of waiting for the government to honour promises, the community of Mzondi crowdfunded to build 30 working toilets in their informal settlement.
Mzondi, South Africa (11 July 2018) – The community of Mzondi in Ivory Park took proactive steps towards bettering their informal settlement. Instead of striking and getting angry, they started a crowdfund on Thundafund to raise money to build 30 toilets.
Thundafund is an incentivised platform that gives financial backers something in return for their donation. The platform also has a donation threshold and if the money is not raised in time, backers are refunded their full donation.
The Mzondi informal settlement consists of over 300 housing units with only four toilets catering for everybody and one of them has neither shelter nor privacy. They were looking to have 30 toilets built and spread out across the community.
The crowdfund was launched by Grassroot which is an organisation that uplifts previously disadvantaged communities
“Together, we seek to rekindle the ability to act together [in the way] that defeated Apartheid and with it transform and strengthen our democracy.”
“We aim to create solutions that enable communities and individuals to act together with more endurance, skill and independence from above than is feasible today.”
Their fund was very close to failing and you, our incredible readers, changed everything! With 6 days to go and zero funds raised, we shared the Mzondi community’s story and you guys made all the magic happen!
In two days, you all rallied together and helped the Mzondi community raise the funds they needed. The crowdfund reached its tipping point, which meant the community would be given the funds to start their project.
A few months later we received an update stating that the community were in discussions on how to spend the money and today they have started receiving all the materials to start construction.
Our hearts are so happy to see this community flourish thanks to you all. You should be proud, we certainly are! Here are some images that Grassroot shared.
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