Our Cohort 6 fellows recently gathered in Johannesburg for the in-person learning experience III. The learning experience, titled How Change Happens, provided a space to build on individual and collective understanding and sense-making of how change happens, not only in theory but in the lived, layered, and political realities that define the world and shape the efforts toward health equity and social justice. Some of our fellows have shared the challenges faced by their communities and the actions that communities are taking to bring about change.
“We go for about three to four months without water, which affects girls primarily as the people that we work with, in terms of their hygiene. One of the programmes that we wanted to implement this year is the programme to educate people more about being environmentally friendly and migrate from using disposable pads to using cloth pads. So now we had to put that on hold because we need water for them to be able to wash their cloth pads after they have used them. These are some of the challenges that we face, and we continue to engage the government to prioritize new clean safe water for people, particularly the girls who are our concern in the community,” said Thobeka Buswana, the Founder and Principal of the Thobeka Buswana School for Girls.
Like Buswana, Mkhaliseni Mzimela, from Abahlali baseMjondolo, also shared that his community was also dealing with water issues.
“There’s no water in the informal settlements, and we are squashed in one area where we are not even safe. In most cases, we are prone to floods, and our duty is to follow up with the government to provide us with services or also make arrangements to prevent further floods that will always be affecting us. To sustain ourselves, we also have our community programs that we run in order to maintain our standards within the community and also make sure that no one goes to bed without food,” said Mkhaliseni.
Another fellow, Pinky Langa, an environmental activist, added that women remain key in bringing about change.
“I work with women from mining-affected communities, and we’re trying to talk about how the extractive industries are manipulating us and taking from us. The challenges that we face include funding to make sure that we reach out to a number of women, especially those in deep rural areas. We also have issues around finding spaces where we can meet with women and take the action that we feel is needed. It is essential for women who are in decision-making processes to make sure that our voices are heard, and we are winning,” said Pinky.
Overall, the Learning Experience invited the participants to pause, zoom out, and deepen their analysis. It allowed space to interrogate the systems that the participants are part of and complicit in, and to reckon with the layered nature of power, history, and identity in their change work.
Recent Comments