As part of this approach to encourage people to take up the "do- it yourself" concept, I urge people to come together to assist each other to build a house. It has occurred to me that in most developing countries where, unlike us, the state does not play a vital role in providing housing, a number of innovative ideas have been emerged and have been tested and used. I was therefore excited to come across the use of the stokvel idea - a traditional Black urban practice of pooling resources together to make better of the little income that they have.