South Africa on Friday – What we are up to!
Posted by Saul Garlick, Executive Director
In 48 hours a team of 9 individuals will be joining SMRC on our Global Development Ambassadors (GDA) trip to Manyeleti South Africa. The following post was taken from an internal memo regarding our plans and goals. Enjoy, and we hope you will join us next time!
GOALS: The GDA is a special opportunity for SMRC to lead supporters and potential supporters to the community and its surrounding areas to understand the work that the organization has done, to learn about the future direction of our work in the community and to help guide our vision for local partnerships. The additional benefit to the organization is that we can review logistical needs for the Global Development Internships and Fellowships in South Africa beginning June 2009. These considerations will be elucidated in a separate memo entitled, “GDA: Planning for GDI/GDF.”
TRIP PLAN: The GDA participants expect the opportunity to understand the local community’s conditions, experience life in a rural homestay, gain exposure to the issues related to poverty in the community including a review of past interventions, needs to address such as HIV/AIDS, water, access to education and health care and opportunities for future service and immersion into the local culture. In addition the community exposure, SMRC intends to provide a luxury resort experience at the game reserve, in partnership with Djuma Game Lodge. To ensure that the expectations of the participants are exceeded, the following programs will be developed to provide the GDA participants access to the issues described above.
HIV/AIDS & HEALTH CARE: There will be two distinct opportunities to communicate the challenges the community faces with HIV/AIDS during our visit. 1) Clinic visits and 2) roundtable discussions. Visiting the Bubezi Clinic at Lilydale that was funded by Richard Branson/PEPFAR et al. is a great opportunity to see the goals and opportunities before us for future medical trips/fellows, volunteer opportunities during the summer GDI, and funding needs that remain. Also, it will provide the participants some insight into the “best case” of health care access in Manyeleti for the foreseeable future. Participants will also enjoy access to real community input on the health challenges they face. SMRC should set up a series of meetings and discussions with community youth and women in particular to shed some light on the status of health in the community. These meetings will provide inspiration and purpose to the participants, but also input into what are useful and meaningful interventions in a region that is so badly struck by HIV/AIDS, TB and other serious illnesses.
EDUCATION: Understanding the local educational system offers incredible insight into the success and challenges in the community. Several opportunities to understand the educational system and its available resources will be included in the programming. The possible ways to engage in community education include visiting all schools where SMRC has worked and offered support (Mahlathi, Shiviti, Samson, Manyeleti, Uta Creche, Wisani Creche, Mdluli, Manyangana). Another resource is to visit the school while shadowing current students to get a sense of classroom life. We should split the group up to partner them, offering a “day in the life of” experience. Meetings with the teachers and principals would be interesting but a clear agenda would be difficult to identify. Finally, language lessons may be the most useful tool for understanding what the education system is like in South Africa, as well as what the legacy of apartheid has left in its wake. Teaching styles, critical thinking and methods would be best understood by actually learning from the local population.
CULTURAL EXPERIENCE: Learning about and understanding the local culture will add a critical component to understanding life in Manyeleti and also understanding the people who live there on a more personal level. Language is one part of cultural understanding, which will be taught during a couple classes in the community. Celebrations are another opportunity for cultural experience. We will visit Thlavakisa and enjoy local food and dance.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR FUTURE SERVICE: Among the goals of the trip, we hope to identify new opportunities to work with the community. Assessing need, evaluating our impact and finding new opportunities for student engagement will be essential to the trip. In this vein, SMRC will ask participants to consider what new possibilities exist.
