Imagine the moment you open the oven door to check on some freshly baked cookies. The whiff of warm, sweetly saturated air swiftly envelops you, leaving behind a lingering heat and a gradually fading smell throughout the room you are in. This sensory encounter vividly captures the essence of Slovo Park, where my research took place from May 2022 to February 2023, and where, with the permission of the community leaders, I lived for about one month. Each day, the settlement is engulfed in this blend of scents and the relentless, sweltering heat, particularly during the bustling hours of sweets production in the factories located on the southern periphery. On most days in the spring and summer time, the heat emanates both from the mercilessly blistering sun and the sandy soil. Wind is scarce and usually arrives at the same time as the heavy and equally unrelenting rain pounding the mix of corrugated iron and shingled roofs. The combination of heat from above and below, the air thick and stifling, often makes me feel like being trapped inside a giant oven.

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