Pedagogy of Action South Africa 2007

Introduction to my blog

2007-06-22T20:27:00.000-07:00

Dear Family, Friends and Colleagues,

As most of you probably know, I was in South Africa from May 7th - June 9th with 17 wonderful people. We were all part of the Pedagogy of Action 2007. The title of our trip was: Empowering Ordinary People to become HIV activists.

While on the trip two students were selected every week to write a dispatch, which was e-mailed out. I created this website in order to put all the dispatches in one spot and share them with you. By clicking on titles in the 'Blog Archive' above you can read different students' personal experiences. There are quite a few, but I think they are well worth reading. They represent the heart and soul of our experience. I hope you will enjoy sharing this experience with us. This trip has taken us on a wonderful journey, and even though we are back, it is a journey that is far from over.

Sincerely,
Ashley

Dispatch Week 1: Unizul - Intro - Nesha Haniff

2007-06-19T20:45:00.000-07:00

The Gieu Pedagogy of Action trip to South Africa has now completed its first week.Selected students each week will send their reflections in dispatches. This is our way of sharing with our colleagues friends and family our experiences and challenges. I hope that you get a small glimpse of the excitement and transformations these young men and women are living and enacting.The first two reflections are by Zakiyah Sayyed whose piece is entitled Diligentia Cresto and the second piece iswritten by Lydia Mitchell, entitled, "Do Your Litttle Bit of Good where you are; its those Little Bits of Good Put together that Overwhelm the world"

Enjoy, Nesha Haniff

“Diligentia Cresto” - Zakiyah Sayyed

2007-06-19T20:44:00.000-07:00

It is the evening of May 17th and our van from the University of Zululand arrives in Durban. For the first time on this trip I am homesick, even to the point of tears. I miss the environment, the scenery, the comfortable feeling of home and of course the people: my colleagues, my family. What is most interesting about this feeling is that it is not my home in the US that I am speaking of. It is my home at the University of Zululand that I am homesick for. In the short time spent on the University of Zululand’s campus I have grown so attached to the people and the place.

Our team of seventeen members, spent our first week of our month long trip to South Africa on the University of Zululand’s Campus, located in rural Kwa-Zulu Natal. We arrived at the University of Zululand on June 9^th to a slew of open arms, welcoming words and open hearts. Three special women, played an immense role in caring for us, organizing the programs’ logistics and such. They were Gugu Gule (Mama Gugu), Dr. Zethu Mkhize (Mama Zethu) and their assistant Tapiso. These women treated us as if we were their children. For me our arrival at UniZul, as is it called, was a reunion. This was my second trip to South Africa with the Pedagogy of Action program and I am filled with joy to be reunited with the family here that I made last year.

My partner Jerry and I had thirteen of the selected 110 students to teach our HIV module. The HIV module is an oral module, developed by Dr. Haniff, that explains ways to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS and also addresses ways to deal with the stigma surrounding HIV. This module is one that empowered us, seventeen students from the University of Michigan, to come to South Africa to continue the work done by last year’s team. This module empowers people by turning its students into teachers of this methodology. This method of HIV education is unique because it requires no pamphlets, computers, literacy skills or formal education to use. This means that people from any socio-economic, or educational back ground can use it. It was particularly developed for low-literate communities who are usually neglected by beneficiaries of privilege and education like myself, my colleagues and my affiliates at U of M. My thirteen students were peers, students of the University of Zululand. We taught the module to our new colleagues who then taught it back to us in English, developed a translation in Zulu and then taught it back to members of the University and surrounding community. Through out this process we have all discovered times of transformation for ourselves and our students. We reflect about these discoveries in our nightly meetings with our professor. In addition to meetings we also have class with our Professor, where we discuss the theory behind our work for which we use, The Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire.

I am now in Durban reflecting about our time there at UniZul teaching and building friendships, and lie here missing them, I exchange text messages with students back in Zululand, expressing our appreciation and love for each other. We have grown attached to our students through teaching each other about HIV/AIDS. We grew so attached that we would proudly boast to one another about any student who had particularly “shone” from one day to the next. We concluded our program at the University of Zululand with a certificate ceremony where our group of over a hundred students were awarded t-shirts and certificates. This celebration also included a performance by many members of the Pedagogy of Action team. We sang, danced, stepped and played drums, all in an effort to express our gratitude to our students for all that they had given to us. It was very well received and was reciprocated by our colleagues through the impromptu performance of dance and song. This moment intensely portrayed the exchange that both students from the University of Michigan, and students from the University of Zululand shared. My time at UniZul is one that I hold dear to my heart and although I am still in South Africa I am already eagerly anticipating my reunion with my University of Zululand family.

I will end this dispatch with the words on the University of Zululand’s crest, “Diligentia Cresto” which means by diligence we grow. I and my teammates have now taken on this motto, for it explains what we as University of Michigan students have gained from this experience. We will continue to grow through diligence and we are grateful

Signing off,

Zakiyah Sayyed, Co-assistant/teammate of Pedagogy of Action, 2007

“Do your little bits of good where you are; its those little bits put together that overwhelm the world” (Archbishop Desmond Tutu) - Lydia Mitchell

2007-06-19T20:39:00.000-07:00

We arrived at the University of Zululand (UniZul) around 6 pm on Wednesday May 9^th. After two days of traveling the 17 of us were worn out. But we were excitedly greeted by a host of UniZul staff at the university guest houses.

On Friday we had the pleasure of meeting the 110 students we would be working with for the following week. The 2007 Pedagogy of Action students from UniZul came from several different departments; Nursing, Social Work, Mathematics and Psychology.

We spent our time at the university learning from the students about the university, the Zulu Culture, the social fabric of Kwa Zulu-Natal and the lives of the students. Our first few days in Kwa Zulu-Natal South Africa were a great beginning to a very busy trip.

Monday morning, May 14^th, brought the hard work. In four short days we taught the HIV/AIDS prevention education module to the UniZul students who then worked very hard to translate into Zulu, Xhosa, and Tswana. By Wednesday most of the students had earned their certificates by learning, translating and teaching the module to others. Our hope is that these students will continue to teach more [people how to teach the module.

This has been an experience unimaginable in its beauty and power. To meet people and learn about their lives is always an exciting process. But most of us have only read about peoples’ lives here in Africa. Seeing what you have been told come to life, meeting people just like you; college students with exams, social lives , passion and excitement, is the experience of a lifetime. What has made meeting the students and university staff most impacting for me is that in a place, across the ocean, at a university that is very different from mine, there are people just like us. People trying to build up their communities. People trying to motivate students to look for solutions to the biggest social problems. And while our communities are not identical, they do have similar problems and many of us have the same passion, desire and ache to help build stronger communities.

Our time at the University of Zululand was filled with hospitality from staff and students. Everybody we met was doing whatever little things they could, not only to make our stay wonderful, but to make the work we were all doing successful. We are very grateful to have had this opportunity, for all the people we met and for everything we learned about ourselves and life in Kwa Zulu-Natal and the University of Zululand. Our contribution was a small one, but we feel strongly Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s words –

“Do your little bits of good where you are; its those little bits put together that overwhelm the world.”

Dispatch Week 2: Intro - Nesha Haniff

2007-06-19T20:33:00.000-07:00

This week’s dispatches “To Explain a Question “ written by Rod Brown and “Recess” written by Rocky Block reflect our time in the community of Cato Crest in Durban where all the students worked with children. HIV and AIDS have devastated this community and all these children have been affected by this disease, many of them orphaned. We were all deeply moved by their love, their innocence and their soul shifting music. We now share with you, the memory of our time with them.

-Nesha

"To Explain a Question" - Brown Rod

2007-06-19T20:31:00.000-07:00

This week’s work brings us to Cato Crest primary school where the challenge of teaching our peers at the University of Zululand shift to wide-eyed questioning fifth graders. Our small new-found friends are changing our perception of HIV; they are literally transforming statistics into living faces. There is a quote by Desmond Tutu on the back of our program t-shirt that says: “My humanity is caught up; it is inextricably bound up, in yours.” Here, now, it is evident that the issue of HIV goes far beyond “them” or “those people” and it rather rests in all of us. Humanity. We are now in Durban, a fast paced city that echoes the sensibility of Ann Arbor. It is vastly different from the rural close knit family of the University of Zululand. I find myself wondering what making a difference looks like. Is it a bag carried for an elderly person or a long conversation with a good friend? This is something I have wrestled with a lot this past week. What I find interesting about what we are doing is how much we, as American students learn. How difficult is it to understand the dichotomy of receiving from those who have less; those who are “oppressed.”

As my students taught the module in front of the entire school I felt an overwhelming sense of pride. Cato Crest genuinely opened their hearts to receive us and it shone brightly in their enthusiasm towards teaching. Why is it in the poorest places we find the deepest generosity? The entire Cato Crest culture is that of perseverance. My chest fills with air knowing that we aren’t the Americans here to take and simply observe misfortune. I reflect on the number of students we taught and truly see the success of our work. While not every student gets the opportunity to share the module in an assembly in front of their peers, they are still transformed by the mere learning experience. It happens at the very moment that our students realize they themselves can be teachers, that as eleven year olds they have the power to empower. The HIV prevention module reached an estimated 4,500 people last year.

My ability to wholly articulate these experiences are proving difficult at best. How can I explain the feeling I got when 900 young people shouted to show their appreciation for us and what we were doing? I can’t. How about trying to describe the feeling I got when I stared into the eyes of 17 Cato Crest kids who in the last 6 months lost both their parents to HIV? That can’t be put into words either. It is like trying to describe the sound of a feeling… No matter what I told you, it still can’t be explained.

Brown Rod, teammate of Pedagogy of Action, 2007

“Recess Time” - Rocky Block

2007-06-19T20:26:00.001-07:00

10: 15 am. Its recess time at Cato Crest Primary School in Durban, South Africa and hundreds of kids flood the cement school yard to play. Plastic slides and shiny steel monkey bars don’t present themselves for children to play here. Still, the children run, play and sing in beautiful angelic circles. These tiny vocal chords vibrate the ear drums of the world in a rhythmic motion that causes our hearts to spin.

We spent less than a week teaching 4th through 7th graders the HIV module and it was superb. I love working with children more than any other audience. They are honest in their questions and for the most part eager to learn. These children hold a special place in my heart. I have never seen smiles so genuine directed toward me. Even though we only had a few days to work with them they respected my partner Danielle and I, by giving us their undivided attention. They fully participated and engaged with the module, becoming teachers, as is the idea of the module. They taught their peers. 7th graders teaching? A few of the students, now teachers, took on the courageous act to teach the entire school of over 900 students. Education doesn’t work this way, does it? They are only kids right? They don’t have the resources do they? Maybe we should treat the young and the marginalized as whole, intellectual beings. They are brilliant and add immeasurable beauty to the world. Perhaps it is those who do not trust the young and who do not trust those on the margins that are one of the largest road blocks to the growth of humanity.

Paulo Friere says, “The radical…is not afraid to confront, to listen, to see the world unveiled”. That is what we did and what we are doing on this trip. Many who see the often unfavorable conditions of the townships cry and their hearts break. Maybe this breakdown is not just that I have more and they have less, but something else. Maybe it is my soul realizing that the community of Cato Crest can display a triumphant humanity, despite not having excess material possessions. Maybe it is my soul discovering humanity’s unquenchable thirst for life and the ability to find wholeness in a shattered world. This is the world the students at Cato Crest made me see.

The geography of Durban is striking to those who enter it. Steep rolling hills cause residents to build their homes on the sides of the earth. The gap between the rich and the poor is excruciatingly visible and cannot be ignored. As you travel around town, rich homes sparkle in the sunlight. The reflection of the light shows plywood townships on the other side of the hill. What lies between hills? Valleys. Perhaps valleys are the places where the oppressed and the oppressor meet together and engage in a way of living where all of humanity benefits. Where the rich and the poor disappear and become people. I want to find myself living in the difficult but positive tension in the valley. Because it is always 10:15 am in the valley.

Signing off, Rocky Block, Co-assistant/teammate of Pedagogy of Action, 2007

Dispatch Week 3: Cape Town - Intro - Nesha Haniff

2007-06-19T20:24:00.000-07:00

Hello Again!

This is our third dispatch and our third week in South Africa. We have one week left . The time has flown by and so much has happened. To tell you about some of our exploits are Jerry Ilar and Marissa Watts. Jerry’s piece which is entitled Privileged and Blessed is the reflection of the youngest in our group. He is 18 years old and feels privileged and blessed, it has been a privilege to have Jerry on this trip. Marissa has been our care giver but her dispatch entitled “ The Triumph of the Human Spirit” shows that the example of South Africa has affected her deeply. I hope your pleasure is as great as mine in reading all of these dispatches.

Nesha

Privileged and Blessed - Jerry Ilar

2007-06-19T20:20:00.000-07:00

The beautiful city of Cape Town was our third stop of our month long work in South Africa. It was amazing to see the tall Table Mountains tower over the city, while the Atlantic Ocean washed the coastline. The trip would be significantly short giving us a small holiday from our hard work at the University of Zululand and the schools of Cato Crest and Mayville. Although we were on holiday, we still held one day of teaching to twelve Red Cross HIV home care workers, and six peer facilitators. Instead of teaching, we visited historical sites such as District Six and Robben Island to gain more understanding of the history of South Africa and the effects left by the Apartheid System. During our stay here we have been blessed with many memorable experiences, being in the presence of living history.
The District Six Museum was an emotional visit. We met a man named Mr. Joe Schaffers, who lived during the displacement of all colored people living in an area called District Six. His stories and eye witness accounts were powerful, and brought history to life. Mr. Schaffers stated how people were not fighting about the better race, but rather how they were all trying to fight the oppressive system of apartheid. He did not exhibit any anger towards the white race but rather how the system prevented him from living his own life.
The next day was followed by a tour on Robben Island. Everyone had this sense of excitement and anxiety to finally visit a place we have read about in Nelson Mandela’s autobiography, “A Long Walk to Freedom.” We were led by an ex-prisoner, Mr. Derek Basson, who was charged with sabotage at the age of seventeen.
Our Robben Island experience came full circle as we met Mr.Ahmed Kathrada. I was surprised to be meeting a person who impacted the formation of the New South Africa, and was a leader along the side of Nelson Mandela against Apartheid. We were privileged and blessed to have the opportunity for Mr. Kathrada to take time out of his schedule to meet us. As he talked with us, he never exhibited any resentment of the adversity he experienced but how the others outside the prison suffered more.
These opportunities of meeting different historical figures, whether great or small, have inspired us in our work with the HIV module as well as our own work at the University of Michigan. Their experiences encourage us to fight the social injustices affecting our communities locally, nationally, or globally. Through their stories we are able to learn from the past, apply it to the present and hope for a better future.

Signing off,
Jerry Ilar- Teammate of the Pedagogy of Action

The Triumph of the Human Spirit - Marissa Watts

2007-06-19T20:16:00.000-07:00

The third leg of our journey in South Africa brings us to Cape Town. Unlike our work at the University of Zululand or Cato Crest and Mayville Primary schools we have been visiting important and historic sites like, Table Mountain, The Cape of Good Hope, City Hall, Robben
Island and the District Six Museum.
In preparation for this trip to South Africa, Professor Haniff made sure that we were aware of South Africa’s history. And I admit that after reading Nelson Mandela’s autobiography and other texts describing the apartheid system, I thought that I knew and could really understand what happened here. But after visiting Robben Island and looking into Mr. Mandela’s cell, after going to the District Six museum and hearing the words of Joe Schaffers, who lived through the displacement of his entire community, I felt like I was seeing the effects of apartheid for the first time. Words cannot fully describe how profoundly different reading and experiencing something can be. I realize now that I never truly understood or could truly picture Nelson Mandela’s cell until I saw it with my own eyes. Mr. Schaffers, our guide at the District Six Museum, explained how apartheid worked like a systemic disease dividing and conquering a community. Before apartheid District Six was a melting pot of sorts, it had a lot of racial and religious diversity and like many neighborhoods it had extensive social networks – all of which were destroyed when the government decided that people should live according to racial categories. Mr. Schaffers took great care to explain the historical significance of the museum’s location. The building was once a church and a place of refuge for protesters fighting the forced displacement of people from their homes. The museum itself was established as a living memorial to celebrate the community that once inhabited that neighborhood. The thing that amazes me more than all the illustrations of the triumph of the human spirit is the extraordinary ability to forgive. We had the honor of meeting Mr. Ahmed Kathrada one of the founding fathers of the New South Africa, who spent 26 years in prison including his time on Robben Island with Mr. Mandela. Mr. Kathrada not only spoke about forgiveness he also demonstrated it. When we first met him he felt compelled to introduce us to a dear friend of his, Christo Brand, who was his warder when he was imprisoned on Robben Island. This moment was astonishing for me, Mr. Kathrada, a man who was deprived of his freedom, and treated as less than human for a large part of his life was able to reconcile and forgive the man who was his warder. Mr. Kathrada chose not to emphasize the horrible and
dehumanizing acts he endured but the small acts of kindness and humanity that Mr. Brand showed him. He explained that harboring feelings of anger and being unwilling to forgive only serves to keep people from moving forward with their lives.
Our time here has really helped me to understand what it’s like to witness a historical moment. As we travel across this beautiful country the effects of apartheid are still apparent, but it is important to note that South Africa is a country in transition. Yes there are many problems that exist and many changes are yet to be made, but we are inspired by the hope, faith and spirit of the New South Africa.

Signing off,
Marissa Watts – Teammate of Pedagogy of Action, 2007

Final Dispatch: Johannesburg - Intro Nesha Z. Haniff

2007-06-19T20:14:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone, today is our last day in South Africa. It has been a month of great and small transformations, but mostly of seeing these young bright and respectful students feeling the joy and pain of activism and activism’s limits. It was not possible for all of them to write a dispatch but they all wanted to, so as a gesture of getting as many people to say a word, I have five short pieces. The first is Lys Inungu’s piece entitled the Spirit of Soweto, next is Aaron Handelsman’s One Big Hill, followed by Beyond All Barriers by Bharat Modi, Lesson in Forgiveness by Erika Purcell-Williams and finally a piece by Christina Juan entitled Freedom and Democracy through Simple Language.

This is a little longer than usual, but they are worth reading because it is a pleasure to see such reflections from these young hearts and minds. If you have the time you will be delighted.

Signing off, Nesha Z. Haniff for the Pedagogy of Action 2007.

The Spirit of Soweto - Lys Inungu

2007-06-19T20:12:00.000-07:00

With broken bottles of beer strung on rich, red dirt to carefree children running along the road, the group was taken to the township of Soweto. Located on the outskirts of Johannesburg, Soweto is unlike any other township I have seen in South Africa. Townships, a device used by the apartheid government were neighborhoods or suburbs used to divide people on the basis of race. Soweto, a black township, was one of the key places where people struggled for equality and rights as citizens of South Africa, and ultimately citizens of the world. Soweto holds a rich cultural history and is called home by many political leaders and figures of South Africa such as Nelson and Winnie Mandela, Desmond Tutu, and Hector Pieterson. On Saturday, June 2, 2007, our journey to Soweto began. As our tour guide, Kenny, took us down the streets of his hometown, Soweto, I couldn’t help but see the spirit of this hopeful township. The home of anti-apartheid uprisings, Soweto has seen its share of devastation and triumph. One of our inspiring stops was the Regina Mundi Church. A church is often associated with a place of worship and healing; but in 1976 the Regina Mundi Church became a place of violence. As hundreds of Africans sought the church for refuge and a place to voice their frustrations, the apartheid government stormed the church shooting and killing many people. They took the innocent lives of moms, dads, brothers, sisters, family, and friends. Visiting the church was a reminder of how deadly apartheid was in the country of South Africa. As our journey continued to the Hector Pieterson Museum in Soweto, I was inspired by the risks that many Africans including Hector Pieterson took to fight for something that was rightfully theirs which was the right to education and equality. As I looked around the city of Soweto, these horrible tragedies have not been forgotten but have turned into sources of hope. With redevelopment and renewal, Soweto has become the home of many professional doctors and lawyers. With the fall of apartheid in 1994, many Africans have mobilized themselves with access to education, land, and other rights. Although the country is still plagued with the aftermath of apartheid, together, South Africans of all backgrounds are making an effort to make their country the best for everyone and I see this in the spirit of Soweto.

Signing off,

Lys Inungu

Pedagogy of Action 2007 Team Member

One Big Hill - Aaron Handelsman

2007-06-19T20:11:00.000-07:00

For my dispatch, I’d like to tell the story of a beautiful man named Kenny, 34 years old, our leader and guide through the crowded township called Soweto. Father, historian, optimist, survivor, sage. Kenny was a young boy during the last dark years of Apartheid, but as any member of this trip will tell you, the effects of that most inhumane system are clear to this day, especially in Soweto. A black South African, Kenny never received a formal education. He has every reason to be bitter, yet he is one of the most intelligent, knowledgeable, and open people I have met on this adventure—and there have been many. I tried to write down as much of what Kenny said on the tour as I could, but there is one particular quote that will remain with me. I was talking to him about history and the relative disinterest with which most Americans, particularly members of my generation seem to approach our own history, one that began with the colonization and destruction of our indigenous people and their culture and continues to play out in an increasingly global community. “Kenny, there is so much suffering in our world, and it is often met with apathy. I sometimes find myself lost in the face of it.” He paused briefly and said in a dignified voice I wish I could reproduce, “No one has a monopoly on human suffering. The hill goes on. It’s very important not to see it as our hill and their hill—it’s one big hill, and this is where we are now. Most people understand how we got to where we are, but we need to know and understand the past so that we may have the energy and the knowledge to make it through the present and the future.” He paused again. “Nothing good comes out of anger. [Pause]. You know, all of the good things we have were built out of love. That is the only way beautiful things are built.” The love that I have experienced in South Africa, especially as a blond-haired, blue-eyed white man only 13 years after the fall of the nationalist government, which was literally founded on hatred, is something that has both overwhelmed and inspired me. It has changed me. Kenny finished with another observation: “What is amazing is how people unlearn the hate.” Indeed. Equally amazing is how people who have every reason to despair and to hate, to give up on humanity, manage to embody its best and most beautiful qualities. That is the lesson I have learned from South Africa, and from Kenny. Next year he will be attending the University for a degree and will continue to share his story with those who will hear it. Thanks for listening.

Signing off.

Peace and respect,

Aaron Handelsman

Pedagogy of Action ’07 Team Member

Beyond All Barriers

2007-06-19T20:10:00.000-07:00

We, through the Pedagogy of Action program aim to incorporate language as one of the core factors of culture. During our last week, we paired with students from the University of Witwatersand, one of Africa’s most elite institutions, and taught them the module. These students later translated the module into their native languages, and taught back in 10 different languages including: Zulu, Ibo, Yoruba, Nigerian Pidgin English, Tswana, Shona, Lingala, and Ndbele. It was a humbling experience for all of us, and upon seeing the teach backs, or maybe I should say performances, I felt proud of our achievements. Being able to reach out to the communities is central to what we do. Through the translations, we overcame the first and the most important barrier. It is this simplicity and capacity to reach out to the most rural and low literate communities, that makes our work practical and special.

Signing off, Bharat Modi

Pedagogy of Action 2007 Team Member

Lessons in Forgiveness - Erika Purcell-Williams

2007-06-19T19:54:00.000-07:00

Our last week in Johannesburg, or “Jo’burg” as residents call it, has taught us all a lesson in the strength and power of forgiveness. We visited the Hector Pieterson Memorial in Soweto, walking across the very spot where the young Hector Pieterson died of gunshot wounds during a police raid in Soweto. This monument marked the spot where dozens upon dozens of school children fled for their lives during an uprising; many were gunned down due to the evils of apartheid. It is truly amazing to think that merely thirteen years ago, South Africa triumphed over the system of apartheid.

Among all the trials and tribulations during these tumultuous years, the people of South Africa have somehow found the strength and dignity to forgive their enemies for the innumerable evils committed. The city of Jo’burg has allowed each one of us to fully experience the acceptance and genuine brotherhood of the people of South Africa. This acceptance of all people is a testament to the strength and dignity of the South African nation, proving that good will always triumph over systems of evil.

It has been an absolute pleasure and honor to participate in the Pedagogy of Action program. We are consistently reminded that we as instructors are the greatest beneficiaries of this program; our final week in Jo’burg has proved this statement to be true. This vibrant city has presented South Africa in a completely different light; it is a nation full of hopes, dreams, possibility, and stamina. I look forward to the further development of the city as well as the country. I will remain thankful to the Pedagogy of Action program for allowing me the opportunity to share and grow overseas for a long time to come.

Signing off,

Erika Purcell-Williams

Pedagogy of Action 2007 Team Member

Freedom and Democracy through Simple Language - Christina Juan

2007-06-19T19:48:00.000-07:00

From the love letter at Shakaland to the ladder at the Constitutional Court in Johannesburg, I have discovered the wealth of information, meaning, and tradition in South Africa. I was particularly moved by the way the ladder demonstrated its recognition of the country’s history – one step of the ladder is made of barbed wire, illustrating slavery and another step, made of elephant bone, signifies the beautiful animals. The symbols exhibited in this country promote principles of love, understanding, and compassion. Over the course of four weeks, I have been overwhelmed by how connected we all are in this world. Just as the module I have been teaching aims to break down the stigma surrounding the HIV epidemic, I have realized how glaringly present these values already are in South Africa. What I find to be beautiful is that in a country undergoing transitions after the raw, painful struggles of apartheid, these values are as clear and sharp as glass. More specifically, I was astonished by the Freedom Charter in Soweto. Each statement, like “the preaching and practice of national race or colour discrimination contempt shall be a punishable crime,” is loaded with meaning. However, all the words are unpretentious, making the Charter accessible to everyone. During the moments I was exposed to this, I was in awe of how resilient the people of South Africa are and how their culture and oral tradition have liberated them step by step. It is a reminder of the new, hard-earned freedom that will set the example for other countries in the world, like the United States. I feel that my experience here in South Africa has come full circle. As part of the Pedagogy of Action, I learned to become an expert of the HIV module and feel empowered to take part in dialogue related to the heavy issue. I feel so blessed because I was also able to learn more than I could imagine and grasp why South Africa is so special through the stories of people I have been fortunate to have met. I will take what I have learned everywhere with me. I would like to thank everyone who has helped and supported me so far. I look forward to sharing these experiences with you.

Signing off,

Christina P. Juan

Pedagogy of Action 2007 Team Member