Overcome Heights, Cape Town, 2016 - Daylin Paul

Located near Muizenburg in Cape Town, Overcome Heights is an extension of Capricorn township. This community is one of the most racially and culturally diverse communities in the Southern Peninsula area of Cape Town with a mixture of black, white, colored, Asian, Indian and other African nationalities represented.The settlement started in 2006 when the ANC party promised housing for all who settled on a sand dune area behind Capricorn. Within 72 hours of opening the site, over 6000 people had moved onto the property with no water or sanitation facilities. There are now water taps and public toilets, but facilities are still well below adequate. The population estimate for Overcome Heights is about 13,000, and continues to grow steadily.

Overcome Heights merges with Capricorn, and so faces the same problems and has similar statistics. HIV and AIDS affect many people, and the community also struggles with drug and alcohol abuse, gangs, prostitution, child abuse and neglect.

c/o Living Hope

View down one of the streets in Overcome Heights. Almost all of the homes are handmade.

Children outside a tuckshop in the township

Sisters edge their way back home after winter rains turn the roads into mud.

A child walks past chemicals used to treat raw, open sewage that spills from the communal toilets after rains

Despite not having any formal employment, many people still make an income from providing services, like sewing, to other residents.

A mechanic works on an exhaust, using only a ramp and welding equipment, outside the township.

A woman sells offal on the streets outside the township. Overcome Heights has one of the most diverse populations in Cape Town

Different families face different economic hardships, some more severe than others. This family, on the outskirts of the settlement, struggle even for warmth in the winter.

Community members work on a sewage system while others watch on. Basic services are severely lacking in the area.

Daylin Paul | Photographer