when rommel roberts came back to cape town after his studies in 1974 he was especially interested in working with children and young people. he came in contact with the early learning centre (today early learning resource unit, elru, in kewtown that was involved in caring for children and general community work.  kewtown was a township near cape town where mainly coloured people lived. so rommel roberts learned about the townships and informal settlements which emerged as a result of the apartheid government’s policy to evict and resettle black and coloured people. roberts got deeply involved in supporting those people who often lived in poor housing conditions, sometimes only in shacks or provisional shelters. and even these dwellings were not secure as the government often destroyed whole townships, e.g. the township modderdam in 1977. through his association with the south african council of churches, rommel roberts worked together with bishop desmond tutu as his national development officer. rommel roberts´ tasks also included building up national and international support networks.