From rubble to revival

In Soweto, Mentoor began working out of his house near "the mountain" in 1991 to address problems of unemployment, crime, and environmental degradation in his community.

At first, he says, he funded his ventures and supported his family by selling his artwork and "stealing from relatives," he admits with a grin, adding, "the entire project was started with 50 cents."

Mentoor formed his passion for art and the environment as a child participating in Boy Scouts. It was only during the early '90s, as South Africa began its transition to democracy, that he saw an opportunity to make a difference in the community.

At first, he says, he recruited young people and unemployed women to salvage paper, cans, and other waste materials to sell, but he quickly realized this was not the best way to make money.

So he developed Amandla Waste Creations and began teaching people to use these materials to make low-cost building materials and crafts such as papier-mâché and wire sculptures to sell to tourists.

"I was a student of '76," says Mentoor, referring to the notorious 1976 student riots in Soweto. "I've grown up with the tag of 'lost generation,' and that never jelled with me as a youth."

The organization's first real grant money came when Mentoor won the World Wilderness Forum's Green Trust Award in 2002. Mentoor's group voted to use the prize money ($1,500) to buy rakes and masks needed to clean up "the mountain."

"We turned into a serious laughingstock in the community," Mentoor recalls. "But I kept reminding them of the starfish story: One day, a young person found all the fish had washed out of the sea and onto the shore, and didn't know what to do to save them. So he started throwing them back one by one. His friends said, 'You're mad, how are you going to save them by throwing them in one by one?' And he said, 'at least I'm saving those ones. At least I've made my contribution.' "

The following year, Mentoor won a fellowship from Ashoka, a US aid organization. Ever since, he's relied on networking with environmental groups to gain piecemeal funding to support Somoho.

Mentoor's house, once a modest four-room bungalow, is now crammed with visitors. He has added an office. A model of a house built using tires and glass bottles sits in his backyard.

On the blocks surrounding his house, and at the foot of Somoho, shop spaces are filled with art studios, women's baking and sewing enterprises, and film and recording studios - all offshoots of Mentoor's organization. Hundreds of young people have become involved in sports, music, and dance in Somoho since restoration efforts began.

Eventually, Mentoor says, these projects will all be moved up to the "mountain." Mentoor also hopes the space will include a craft market, an environmental education center, and even an African restaurant in the water tower.

Sydney Cindi, who runs the waste-art section of the program, says he's trying to get young people involved so they won't make the mistakes he did. He learned to work with clay in prison, where he served four years for robbery.

"To me, Somoho is not just a project, it's a school of learning," he says. "When we started on the mountain it was a dumping place. Now it's a place where people sit under the trees."

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