Unconference: International (non-European) perspectives on community repair
@Nebojsa_Adzic talked about Insertech in Montreal how they added “Réparothons” to their successful computer refurbishing social enterprise, and their challenges. They now run 20 events a year and he is flat out! He also shared about their connections to the Quebec government that help with their sustainability.
@Purna Trash is an opportunity for us in India.” She explained how waste pickers help informally reusing and recycling. …Her Repair Cafe in Bangalore is a citizens initiative that had thrived without the intervention of government… It can serve as a solution for various societal problems like dementia. She has a Burning Man grant to work on this issue! Intergenerational workshop are so important, building up a bigger community, connection. In cities we also live in nuclear families and are disconnected too. She talked about the potential of the …Repair Cafe to link people, with migration from outside the region and internal migrations within the region… Her Repair Cafe features local repair people and she created a calendar to feature their skills too!
@Fernando_GA Runs a group at a university in Hong Kong. Many of the volunteers and participants come from other countries. For HK students, sustainability is quite low in terms of priorities, even before the recent events in HK. Now potentially even lower. A society built on consumerism, and literally, on trash. HK students do not really trust a free repair opportunity, and prefer instead to go to Shenzhen. He said that up to 1/3 of his group’s repairs are fixing bodged commercial repairs from Shenzhen! He’s reaching out to secondary schools and quite concerned with succession, keeping the group going after he graduates.
@Club_de_Reparadores Meli shared the story of this Buenos Aires group and how they’ve started helping other groups in Argentina and even Uruguay get started. She talked about their Liga de Menores work, moving towards engaging teachers instead of individual schools.
Johnathen: Repair Café Cape Town is new and small. He found a makerspace that would host them at no cost, and has been working to recruit volunteers and participants. He uses Meetup to advertise events. He recently got support from Red Bull for a special event for promotion and food, and he’s planning a 19th October event for Open Design Afrika, which coincides nicely with International #RepairDay.
Felipe talked about repair culture in Brazil and his project called “Metareciclagem”. He explained how the project grew because of pre-existing cultures of hybridism and improvisation. Learn more by listening to our podcast with him!
Discussion
Video by Jonas Knapen - posted by @Purna
[Sorry my notes are really poor here please watch the video above - @Janet]
@Janet asked whether there is any hope of averting the consumerist excesses elsewhere that we’ve reached in Europe and North America.
@Club_de_Reparadores and @Felipe_Fonseca both seemed to suggest that in countries like Brazil and Argentina, it’s down to creating a culture of long-lasting products being cool. Meli talked about trying to show different ways to valuing people and materials - drawing a parallel between the way we treat things and the way we treat people. The social aspects.
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