UER Activities in Africa
Soweto, South Africa — August 5, 2002
Azi Khalili, Dottie Curry, Mike Ishii, and Katy Taylor went to Soweto to lead a one-day workshop at Itutheng, a community-based organization serving orphans and young people in trouble with the law. This was the fourth year Azi worked with the group and the second year UER visited them in South Africa. During this visit the team continued to teach them the fundamentals of Co-Counseling and trained them as RC support group leaders and teachers. The team found out that these young people had been integrating RC into a lot of their activities. They were having mini-sessions among themselves, leading RC support groups at Itutheng, running a hot-line for youth and offering RC-style counseling on the phone. They were also being hired by a chain supermarket (who was funding the hot-line) to provide counselling to their workers dealing with bereavement-related issues.
Johannesburg, South Africa — August 2-4, 2002
Barbara Love (Amherst, Massachusetts, USA) led a weekend introductory workshop in Johannesburg, South Africa. The workshop was attended by thirty people, including some who had been to UER workshops at the NGO Forum, some who had attended the workshop led by Luke Daniels (London, England) in Johannesburg in February, and several who were part of a group in Soweto, South Africa that had been started by Azi Khalili (Brooklyn, New York) and a group of New York RCers.
Umuahi and Kaduna, Nigeria — June 2002
After the workshop in Lagos, Nigeria (February 7-9, 2002), reported on above, people who had attended organized two other introductory weekend workshops. These were led by Melphy Sakupwanya (Harare, Zimbabwe). One was held at Umuahi, in eastern Nigeria, and the other at Kaduna, in the north. About thirty people attended each one. Both groups want to form RC Communities.
The Nigerian groups continue (May 2003) to meet, to grow and to spread as several of the leaders travel regularly around the country, spreading RC as they go. Future workshops in these countries will be RC workshops as the groups have been integrated into the RC Communities.
Durban, South African — April 12-14, 2002
Nineteen people attended an April weekend workshop in Durban, South Africa. Participants had already attended UER workshops and the fundamentals class at the NGO Forum, and the follow-up day-long workshops led by Hein Kleinbooi. The April workshop was led by Rudy Nickens. Waveney Richards (Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago) and Melphy Sakupwanya assisted. The workshop was organized by Hein Kleinbooi.
Johannesburg, South Africa — February 23, 2002
Luke Daniels (London, England), assisted by several members of the Johannesburg, South Africa, RC Community, led a one-day introduction to RC for sixty-five staff members and clients of the Tshepong AIDS Project.
Lagos, Nigeria — February 7-9, 2002
In Lagos, Nigeria, Melphy Sakupwanya (Harare, Zimbabwe) led a weekend workshop for thirty people from from several human rights organizations and from various NGOs, some of which UER had made contact with in Durban.
Durban, South Africa — September 2001 to March 2002
At the NGO Forum, UER delegates made many contacts with individuals from Durban itself. During the conference, some people from Durban attended a fundamentals class led by Barbara Love (Amherst, Massachusetts, USA) and others. Several of them have continued to meet as an ongoing support group. In addition, Njoki Kamau (Evanston, Illinois, USA, and originally from Kenya) led a day-long introductory workshop for twenty-eight people (mostly social workers, along with some of the street children they work with) immediately following the NGO Forum. Hein Kleinbooi (Capetown, South Africa) followed up with day workshops in November and March.