The Dr. is in:
In celebration of Women’s Month, the team at Viva Con Agua, would love to highlight one of our strongests partners:
Dr. Amanda Filtane, Chief Servant & Founding Director of Built Environment Clinic (BEC), and a great partner of Viva Con Agua. Assisting our project manager Sivu on projects with uplifting underprivileged schools’ water and sanitation infrastructures. The organization she founded, aims to develop skills, and help people from underserviced areas to find success; to empower local and remote communities. BEC focuses on empowering, especially, students and new graduates within the Built Environment industry.
BEC alongside Amanda offer multiple ways of empowering and assisting various people and companies. Such as, in-service learning and practical training for students; structured internships for graduates; essential infrastructure for communities; business support and training for emerging businesses.
The BEC is an amazing place for young aspiring to be in construction to thrive and build a beautiful road into their future.
BEC & VCA: 1 Community, 2 Projects
Dr. Amanda and BEC have been long-standing partners with Viva Con Agua, and have done two major projects alongside each other. In the extraordinary rural areas and townships of Bulungula in Eastern Cape.
Project Washalot being one of the major partnered projects between Viva Con Agua x Built Environment Clinic. The project consisted of the design and installation of handwashing units (Washalots), rainwater harvesting systems, Jojo Tanks, and water channels.
Inspiring the youth to home cleanliness close to their hearts.
Then, came the Bulungula Youth Centre, where BEC and VCA got their hands dirty in the design and refurbishment, transforming the Youth Centre into the beauty it is today.
The transformation of the Youth Centre has brought great joy for the community and the staff who work in it, giving them a safe space to shine – just last week, a WASHeroes Workshop was held in the new and approved Youth Centre, educating teachers on WASH inniatives within schools – a project brought to life by Sivu Tembani, from Viva Con Agua, and her team Adrian and Siya. Together, they spread the message of WASH to teachers who will go on to spreads droplets of knowledge to their young students.
Words of Wisdom from Dr. Amanda:
This month at University of Cape Town’s Women’s Day celebration, Dr. Amanda Filtane was the keynote speaker, since this was in celebration of Women in Construction organised by the Built Environment students of UCT. Other notable speakers being: Shahieda Dramat (Health & Safety Advisor) and Gloria Boa (Entrepreneur and Founder & COO of CompleteProperty in South Africa).
Dr. Amanda gave great advice for, not just women in construction, but for anyone hoping to tackle the world of construction in South Africa.
One of her highlighted moments of her talk was when she said “Get ready to get dirty” in terms of working yourself up from the bottom and mastering your craft to a point where you could do anything on that construction site and not just your specific role. A lesson she learnt early on and has implemented that in her daily routine at work, shaping her into the powerhouse she is today.
Our Viva Con Agua South Africa Team would love to thank Dr. Amadna Filtane for the great partnership and support on our journey, it’s truly been a beautiful collaboration and we hope for many more collaborative opportunities to come.
