Not for profit merit award: Tapologo Centre.
Tapologo is a Setswana word that means ‘a place of peace and rest”. It’s a fitting name for an HIV/Aids hospice. Tapologo, near Phokeng in the North West province, was the brainchild of Bishop Kevin Dowling of the Catholic diocese of Rustenburg.
In the early 1990s he realised there was a great need to develop support and resources to counter the effects of the HIV epidemic in the area. Today the centre has four subprogrammes comprising outreach and home-based care, orphans and vulnerable children, antiretroviral therapy and an in-patient unit and hospice.
In short, it’s a lifeline for hundreds of people in the community — whether they are infected with or affected by HIV. But Tapologo is much more than that. It is an inspiring example of an environmentally friendly space that spreads the message of healing.
The centre consists of four buildings in spacious grounds — the administration and management buildings, the in-patient unit and the health management information service. Each of these buildings has been designed to exist in harmony with nature and to minimise the impact of the organisation’s activities on the surroundings.
Tapologo believes in sourcing building material locally. This reduces the organisation’s carbon footprint, because fewer resources have to be brought in from outside.
Tapologo’s architecture reflects the skills of the past. Walls and vault roofs are built with home-made, sun-dried mud bricks, which are a natural form of insulation and temperature control, so the buildings are cool in summer and warm in winter.
The centre is proud of its ‘natural air-conditioning system”, based on the long-established principle of hot air rising. Air from outside is drawn into intake towers not far from the buildings and then channelled through subterranean cooling pipes into the buildings through floor-level vents.
The air rises as it warms and leaves through vents in the apex of the vaulted roofs, carrying germs and viruses out with it. By day the buildings are lit by natural light through skylights and windows; at night the centre uses energy-saving light bulbs.
Lowwattage electronics are used wherever possible and solar panels provide energy for heating water and cooking. This is all part of Tapologo’s environmental management policy, which is endorsed by its board of directors.
The centre strives for the lowest possible carbon footprint, responsible management of hazardous medical and general waste and sustainable energy use. In future there are plans to install photovoltaic panels, which will turn sunlight into energy and reduce the centre’s fossil fuel-generated energy footprint.
Tapologo is home to an organic vegetable garden, which supplies basic vegetables such as carrots, beetroots, cabbage and spinach. There’s even a small flock of Naledi hens, which provides the centre with fresh free-range eggs every day.
The judges described the centre as ‘impressive” and said that, although its impact might be small-scale, it is nevertheless ‘important”. They encouraged the centre to enter the competition again next year.