Dear Friend
South Africans had their fourth democratic national and provincial
elections in April
this year. After the stabbing of a political leader, tensions around
the
formation of a new political party, disruptions
of meetings, threats to political
leaders and hate speech, civil society organisations came together and
formed an Election Monitoring Network. The Quaker Peace Centre was one
of several organisations on its National Steering Committee.
Thanks to generous funding from the Open Society Foundation for South
Africa and the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Network
could support election monitoring structures in all of South Africa's 9
provinces and train 500 monitors altogether.
South Africans enthusiastically turned out in great numbers to vote.
There were isolated incidents of intolerance, intimidation, misuse of
state resources for obtaining votes, violence, non-compliance with
election regulations and irregularities during the voting process, but
there were no larger organised attempts to undermine the elections.
This
bodes well for our democracy. The Election Monitoring
Network and its members did their part to ensure free and fair
elections. They acted as a watch dog and political parties and their
supporters knew that they were watched by a strong civil society
presence which would point a finger at them and intervene.
Our work is not done with this. South Africa has still one of the
highest levels of inequality in the world. Levels of violence are
unacceptably high in South Africa. These have very negative effects on
the ability of people to develop their full potential. South Africa
needs people
who have developed to their full potential so that we can overcome the
legacy of poverty and inequality. The work of the Quaker Peace Centre
is still very much needed.
Peace Buddies we work with
Please
read news about our projects below.
Non-Violent Schools
This
year we recruited 5 new
schools to join the existing 6 schools in the Non-Violent Schools
Campaign.
Peace
Buddies are active in 6 schools. Maitland
High School launched their
own Ambassadors
of Peace Campaign, and at Masibambisane High
School
they launched the Masibambisane Peace Patrol. The buddies at Heideveld High
School
spent a weekend with Nobel Peace Laureate, Rigoberta Menchu Tum from Guatemala
as
well as organising exhibitions and ceremonies and attending
conferences. Rhodes
High School Peace Club has a mission: “To
encourage, support, motivate and sustain positive behaviour amongst the
youth…to allow our light to shine so that we can in turn help others to
let
their light shine…” Rhodes
High School
hosted our
Peace Buddies Picnic held to commemorate Human Rights Day on 21 March,
which
was also the day that Peace Buddies published their second newsletter!
We
run a series of Saturday
morning Training of Trainers
workshops on Peace Education. Sixteen very dedicated teachers from
participating schools attend a session one Saturday morning each month.
The
teachers will be equipped to teach the values of peace across the
curriculum,
because we believe, that unless we embed the message of peace and
non-violence
in the curriculum, it will be forgotten.
The
Non-Violent
Schools Camp
takes place in July in Malmesbury and curriculum advisors, Geraldine
Goldblatt
and Fazeela Hafejee from the Western Cape Education Department will
facilitate
with us. This will be followed by the annual Non-Violent Schools Indaba
to be
held in Mitchell’s Plain in August in partnership with the Western Cape
Education Department in the south district.
In
2003 we
established a working
relationship between Paul Cassidy (ARC-
Access to Resources and Counselling – UK and SARC
– South African Resources and Counselling) and the Quaker
Peace Centre. Paul is based in London
where he works as a trauma counsellor and a youth counsellor. His
methods are
simple, unusual and effective, especially with youth. He has been
sharing his
talents with students, community workers, teachers and learners in Cape Town since
2004. In
March this year we worked at several high schools in Cape Town. The
photograph below shows Paul
with a learner demonstrating rapport; the ability to create physical
rapport
with the client without giving the impression of mimicking or mocking.
The
photo shows Paul sitting back on the chair with open arms while the
learner
crosses his arms and balances on the edge of the chair!
Lectures on Behaviour
Management
continue at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) and
lobbying and
advocacy work is up and running in association with Childline South
Africa,
RAPCAN (Resources Aimed at
the Prevention
of Cruelty and Neglect) and
Janis Wylie (Academic Programme Manager, Advanced
Certificate in Education - School
Leadership, University of Cape Town).
Paul Cassidy and a learner demonstrate
physical rapport
Young Women in Leadership
This project is
involved in the Non-Violent Schools Campaign. We selected suitable and
enthusiastic young women
of Peace Clubs and are training them in gender
sensitivity in
order to develop their self-esteem and assist them in gaining a better
understanding of young women in leadership. Our training enables them
to identify the
needs of young women in their communities and to bring these needs to
the
attention of the authorities.
The Peace Clubs
that
we have selected so far are Heideveld
High School and Masibambisane High School, which are attended by
both black and coloured learners. We have 26 learners at Heideveld
and 24 at
Masibambisane from the age of 15 to 18 years. These are membes who
have shown leadership qualities, and are very keen to participate in
this
programme.
We have conducted
18 workshops so far with different topics,
for example “awareness of women’s issues and awareness of women’s
rights”.
There were lots of challenging issues that came out of these workshops.
One strong issue that came out of the workshop was an issue of Lobola (bride price). Young women
especially from
the
black community expessd their concern. Peace Club
members made it very clear that, it is one's happiness that comes
first,
not
what the other person wants. In the olden days we had forced marriages,
where parents decided who young women would marry and which
career
she could choose. Now it is time to make one's own decisions and stand
up
for oneself
and say how one feels about the situation even if it means a
disagreement with parents. These young women members suggested taking
this issue
forward and challenging the elders because in some families it’s still
in
practise.
Heideveld Peace Club
members suggested that this topic would
be part
of their debating programme. This topic is very important as we have
recently learnt that very young girls have been promised to widowers
who have lost their wives due to AIDS in the Eastern Cape, a province
to which black people have strong family links.
Some
peace club members
have taken up a big role in the community and also in their schools.
They have
started to attend community meetings and are taking part in activities,
particularly
the Peace Club at Masibambisane in Delft.
We are now
conducting workshops on leadership and advocacy and lobbying skills. We
will do monitoring programmes after these workshops,
where the learners will be writing articles and challenging letters to
the
media and the authorities. In the second
half of this year, we will be working in another two schools doing the
same programme.
Some of the young
women will attend a Non-Violent Schools Camp in July and the Indaba in
August.
Diversity
Since the
beginning of the year, our Diversity Project has
been working closely with the Non-Violent Schools Project, of which our
Young
Women in Leadership Project is also part. Aligning and co-ordinating
our
previously separate work focuses is proving to be a winning combination
that is
generating much energy and creativity.
Our radio drama,
“Carmen and Thando” has been used in the Training of Trainers programme
of the Non-Violent Schools Project, who in turn
have used it in their classrooms, and it has also been used with
learners in
the Peace Clubs. It has been very warmly received by teachers and
learners
alike and has provided a welcome safe space where difficult issues of
prejudice
and racism can be discussed. One of the
teachers said that he had first used the “Carmen and Thando” story with
Grade
12 learners; shortly after that the Grade 11 learners had got to hear
about it
and demanded that they too be allowed to hear it, and most recently the
Grade
10 learners have been making their own copies of the CD!
Teachers in our
training commented:
“This
is an excellent medium to get the learners to express
their feelings and views on issues like housing, crime, racial
misunderstanding
and inter-cultural relationships, amongst others. The learners were
very
excited because they could relate to it and they even sang along with
the
characters.”
“Our
learners can easily identify with the community
portrayed in “Carmen and Thando” because most of them live in the same
community set up. Diversity is something they have to live with on a
daily
basis. This CD teaches them how to deal with issues they face regularly
and to
look at things from different perspectives.”
“In
South Africa
racism is mainly viewed between black
and white and the story of Carmen and Thando takes this issue out of
that
mould.”
Following the
spate of horrifically violent attacks on
foreigners in May last year, and knowing that xenophobia continues to
bubble
away just under the surface of everyday life, occasionally surfacing,
it was
decided to continue with the story of Carmen and Thando, focusing this
time on
xenophobia and corruption. We are proud to announce that “The Further
Adventures of Carmen and Thando” has now been recorded, and has had its
first
airing with teachers in our Training of Trainers programme.
These were some
comments from the teachers:
“As
a teacher in Delft
I can associate myself with the story being told. This story can really
help
teachers and learners at diversified schools to strengthen
relationships
and show
other communities that all of us can live and work together in this
Rainbow
Nation.”
“Great
CD. The issue at hand the learners will relate to. It
is like you are with the people in the drama; like you are part of the
conversation.”
We are
planning a further episode of Carmen and Thando, this
time focusing on gender, and we will draw on the experience documented
in our
Young Women in Leadership Project. We are feeling very excited by the
project
and the way it has been received!
You may
listen to "Carmen and Thando" on our website.
Alternatives
to Violence Project
We have
taken over AVP work in
Pollsmoor Correctional Facility which had hitherto been funded with
volunteer effort by Phaphama Initiatives. The Pollsmoor Correctional
Facility is the largest prison in Cape Town. Currently working in male and female adult prisoners we
have been asked by the prison authorities to extend our work to the
male youth section.
AVP continues successfully at
Pollsmoor Correctional Facility. This year 8 Basic and 8 Advanced AVP
workshops
have been
run and we have a large waiting list for participants. Inmate
facilitators run the workshops while we are there in a support role.
A prisoner who participated in
our AVP commented:
"At
first I thought the [AVP] workshop a total waste of time but
after the first day it all changed ... and to my surprise I had a
lot on my mind and heart. As the days went on I learned so much about
myself and others I could literally feel the healing process taking
place."
It is this sort of response and the opportunity to see the effects of
the healing that makes us so determined to spread AVP in the
prisons and in the communities.
We wish to develop AVP
Cape as the hub of a network of organisations who want or use AVP
methods and AVP facilitators. It is basically a
coordinating body with a strong training of facilitators element.
While
AVP Cape will start life as a QPC
project the aim is to transform it into a stand-alone non-governmental
organisation within about 3 years. AVP Cape got
underway with gatherings of AVP facilitators. These include AVP
volunteers
of long standing, ex-prisoners who are on parole and a number of
“apprentice”
facilitators.
Give now
You may use your credit card to
give to
the work of the Quaker Peace Centre. Go to www.cafonline.org
and type Cape Town Quaker into the search field 'Keyword(s) or phrase'
under 'Find a charity and donate' which will bring you to the Cape Town
Quaker Peace Centre Committee. Donations will be automatically
converted from British pounds into the currency of your credit card
account.
More about the Quaker Peace
Centre
Please visit our website www.quaker.org/capetown
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