|
Dr. Kriben Pillay of the Leadership Centre, conducted a two-day
community outreach workshop for the Woza Moya Project in the rural Midlands
of KwaZulu-Natal in July. Supported by All Together Now International, the workshop
focused on discovering leadership skills, and is seen as the first part of an
on-going youth leadership development programme in an area devastated by AIDS-related
deaths.
Dr. Pillay worked with 13 scholars and young adults, many from
single parent homes - one of the scholars was recently orphaned when her mother
died in April this year. Using experiential learning activities and taking the
approach of working from within resulted in there being very little theory -
except for theory that came with reflection. However, Dr. Pillay found the group
unearthed notions of leadership and ensemble working that has only surfaced
fairly recently in organizational learning. The group displayed amazing creativity
in activities that ranged from role-play and drawing to choral singing.
On August 30, there was a special presentation ceremony at Woza
Moya when Dr. Pillay handed over Certificates of Participation to all the participants.
(Click on a thumbnail below to view full photos of
the Woza Moya Project)
You can support Woza Moya through your
donations to ATNI. Woza Moya provides quality community care and support
for people infected and affected by HIV/Aids in the Sisonke district of South
Africa . By providing home-based care, orphan intervention and food security,
Woza Moya aims to alleviate hunger, poverty and suffering through a holistic
approach taking into account a person's psychological and spiritual health,
as well as his/her physical welfare.
During this past year the challenges have been many, covering a wide range of issues, from poverty, gender discrimination, sexual abuse, HIV/Aids stigma and denial in this community, to government departments not delivering services, to our own increasingly demanding administration and financial requirements.
Poverty and food security has been one of our greatest challenges. Many families are without food and no means of income. More often than not these families are nursing sick people and housing orphaned children too. Food is the most immediate and urgent need in these homes. Often these people who are poor, hungry and sick are also depressed, having given up all hope.
Even though HIV/Aids is still not openly spoken about in this community, we have seen some definite progress in one-on-one counselling situations. Our volunteers have reported more patients discussing, in private with them, their concerns about their HIV status. Every month our volunteers are reporting more people who are willing to talk and receive visits from our HIV/Aids counsellors. We are hopeful that in this forthcoming year we will be able to facilitate the beginning of a few HIV/Aids support groups in this community.
|
