A week in the life…Hello friends and family! Remember how we didn’t really have any specific answers to your questions about what we would be doing? We said it had to fit the circumstances on the ground, and we tried our best to give ideas? Well, we finally have some answers, and as last week ended, I realized I could just describe our work week! Questions welcome as always.
SADRA currently has five pillars that it simultaneously works
on – peace education in schools, community conflicts & xenophobia, church
leadership, women in peacebuilding, and election monitoring/crisis
management. These can and do all flow
together, and this is a good week to see how they weave together…
Day 1
As usual, we start the week with a staff meeting – the three
of us pray together, review the last week’s program and to-do lists, and then
set up the coming week’s work. We also
catch up on some administrative work. This is going to be an interesting week!
Day 2
Manenberg High Schools: Oscar, Dan and I visit the principals of the three schools we have targeted as most needing intervention for gang violence in the Manenberg township area, which is about half an hour towards Cape Town. Oscar successfully trained administration at one school during a crisis period two years ago, and student violence was greatly reduced. We want to begin in these two other high schools, and met last month with school deputies and one principal. Today we will check in with all of them, and also have an appointment with the remaining principal, as his buy in is crucial.
However, gang violence has become much more complicated under the new democracy, and our advisors have warned us that we will need a multi-pronged approach that also addresses gang violence in families and the community, and that other NGOs have come into the area and failed. Sure enough, this third principal, tells us frankly about the US-based Ceasefire Program that evaporated without even a final report before finishing their program. We will need to tread wisely in these schools, but with our interest in gangs and violence reduction, we all feel commitment to follow this through.
IEC (Independent Electoral Commission of SA) meeting: Our afternoon meeting is with a SADRA trainer and advisor Dan and I meet for the first time. We run through our plans for Manenberg with him, as he grew up in that area, and glean his ideas. He has a history of working with human rights and currently works with the police; integrating police into our plans will be important. But today’s meeting is primarily to talk about the IEC, where he is an election monitor with Oscar. He is helping SADRA plan a 2-3 day training (and apply for funding at the EU) focused on crisis management for our region’s 27 election monitors in preparation for the August elections. These monitors are community leaders, including religious leaders, who become equipped to respond as election tension or violence occurs.
Manenberg High Schools: Oscar, Dan and I visit the principals of the three schools we have targeted as most needing intervention for gang violence in the Manenberg township area, which is about half an hour towards Cape Town. Oscar successfully trained administration at one school during a crisis period two years ago, and student violence was greatly reduced. We want to begin in these two other high schools, and met last month with school deputies and one principal. Today we will check in with all of them, and also have an appointment with the remaining principal, as his buy in is crucial.
However, gang violence has become much more complicated under the new democracy, and our advisors have warned us that we will need a multi-pronged approach that also addresses gang violence in families and the community, and that other NGOs have come into the area and failed. Sure enough, this third principal, tells us frankly about the US-based Ceasefire Program that evaporated without even a final report before finishing their program. We will need to tread wisely in these schools, but with our interest in gangs and violence reduction, we all feel commitment to follow this through.
IEC (Independent Electoral Commission of SA) meeting: Our afternoon meeting is with a SADRA trainer and advisor Dan and I meet for the first time. We run through our plans for Manenberg with him, as he grew up in that area, and glean his ideas. He has a history of working with human rights and currently works with the police; integrating police into our plans will be important. But today’s meeting is primarily to talk about the IEC, where he is an election monitor with Oscar. He is helping SADRA plan a 2-3 day training (and apply for funding at the EU) focused on crisis management for our region’s 27 election monitors in preparation for the August elections. These monitors are community leaders, including religious leaders, who become equipped to respond as election tension or violence occurs.
Day 3
Xenophobia and community dialogues: This is a short
work day for us, as the boys are taking exams and both done mid-morning. So we decide that’s a good day to drive all
the way into Cape Town (about an hour one way) to visit the French Consulate
and the Alliance Française. These two
contacts were made during our meetings with the French Embassy last month in
Jo’burg, and Dan and I are able to have a nice long meeting with the AF
director. This is a
relationship-building meeting, and we describe SADRA, and he describes the AF’s
work in xenophobia and LGBTI rights, upcoming events and how SADRA might
intersect. The AF has started an informal community dialogue series, and he
invites SADRA to facilitate an evening, something we talked about wanting to
do.
Day 4
Western Cape Department of Education: Another day of driving – we visit the DoE
(north of Cape Town) to meet with the Safe Schools Co-ordinator for the
district that includes Manenberg. She
needs to understand our interest there, and we need to know what government
efforts are in the area as well as the issues she sees. She talks about how bullying is a new
problem, and how they are piloting an after-school program in two schools (not
in Manenberg). Government funding shrinks every year, but as someone that has
been trained by Oscar, she knows his programs and is keen to support us in
Manenberg however she can. The meeting
ends with her inviting us to help with a mini-Truth and Reconciliation
Commission she is trying to get funded to deal with community wounds in the
nearby coloured community of Elsie’s River.
Of course, Oscar says yes.
Electoral
Commission Launch: The rest of the
day is spent at the official launch of the IEC Municipal Elections – press
covers all the political parties that have come to sign the Code of Conduct,
including the important clause that election results will be accepted by all
parties. The Western Cape includes 402
wards, 1586 districts, and over three million voters. Want to understand what can be contentious in
an election? Think about the hanging
chad issue of 2000, and multiply that on every level, with added political
complexity. Voter registration has been
so hotly contested there have already been riots, tires burned, etc. At the following reception, we meet more of
Oscar’s co-monitors.
Day 5
Pastor’s training follow-up: We divide up today – Oscar is doing some
independent mediation work. Dan does a follow-up training with a fellowship of
pastors Oscar has been working with. The
initial two day gathering last month was to give them space to plan and figure
out how they are going to work together.
Internal conflict and confusion has crippled the organisation, and
members have been dropping. As an outsider, Dan has been able to guide them
through a process of discernment, and today is meeting with several of the
leaders in follow-up. Their constitution
and leadership roles have been hazy at best, and the founder/president needs to
be brought on board of needed changes and transparency.
Women’s meetings:
Meanwhile, I drive to the local government office to try and set-up
meetings with the women leaders. I met
two of them earlier, and after getting some good ideas on women’s rights at the
training in Jo’burg last month, I feel ready to talk about women’s issues in
Strand and our township, Lwandle. Both
women are out sick, but I get their contact information to try later in the
week. In an ironic twist, I then get
sick and still have not had those meetings.
Any actual trainings will need to wait until after the election, but if
I can get in some informal discussions soon, that will help direct our
work. I do meet with the local
councillor, however, and hear about how some contenders for office are being
physically threatened, and there is some real fear about the election.
Xenophobia: That evening, I drive to Cape Town for
one of those discussions hosted by the AF – they are showing a new documentary
on xenophobia made by the Scalabrini Center for Refugees. Besides being a topic
we work in, I also want to scope out who comes to these events and their
format. I have another aim, too; I
invite two young men to join me whom I met at the Peacebuilding Institute last
month. One of them is getting a degree in Peace Studies, and has requested we
consider how he might contribute to SADRA.
He is also here from Zimbabwe, so this is the perfect event to see him
in action.
At home, I re-write our Manenberg plans in light of things we have recently reflected on, to be sent out to the school principals with Oscar’s approval. I also draft a concept paper on a new pillar that we have been talking about – Food Security. I can’t let the cat out of the bag just yet, but there are several factors coming together (funding possibilities Oscar and I learned about in Embassy visits, situations we viewed with rural pastors on our drive in March, rising food prices and the increased need for sustainable agriculture) that are seeming more and more relevant.
Day 6
Just kidding… Not going to go on. On weekends we do cultural things like go to weddings, concerts, museums, and different churches, etc. Sorry this is so long – but it feels like you need the details to keep up with all this! I hope a window into one of our weeks helps you understand how we are working with Oscar, and what is ahead for us. Now the boys are on winter break, so it’s harder to both get in full days like this, but it allows me to write to you. On the home front, we recently did a search for a rental home, as our current lease is up next month and we are ready for a more permanent place that accepts pets, so we will be moving soon. We found a lovely, partially furnished house on a hill with a view, and a guest suite that you will hear more about next month.
All our love, and thanks for reading,
At home, I re-write our Manenberg plans in light of things we have recently reflected on, to be sent out to the school principals with Oscar’s approval. I also draft a concept paper on a new pillar that we have been talking about – Food Security. I can’t let the cat out of the bag just yet, but there are several factors coming together (funding possibilities Oscar and I learned about in Embassy visits, situations we viewed with rural pastors on our drive in March, rising food prices and the increased need for sustainable agriculture) that are seeming more and more relevant.
Day 6
Just kidding… Not going to go on. On weekends we do cultural things like go to weddings, concerts, museums, and different churches, etc. Sorry this is so long – but it feels like you need the details to keep up with all this! I hope a window into one of our weeks helps you understand how we are working with Oscar, and what is ahead for us. Now the boys are on winter break, so it’s harder to both get in full days like this, but it allows me to write to you. On the home front, we recently did a search for a rental home, as our current lease is up next month and we are ready for a more permanent place that accepts pets, so we will be moving soon. We found a lovely, partially furnished house on a hill with a view, and a guest suite that you will hear more about next month.
All our love, and thanks for reading,
Kathryn and family
