Drew gaining insight on additional ways to become a better faciliator

Last weekend we all attended Africa Unite’s Human Rights Weekend. Africa Unite is an organization started in reaction to xenophobic violence in an effort to empower youth and create more cohesive societies and communities. As the name Africa Unite implies, the founders wanted people of African descent to view their common African heritage as a unifying force rather than focus on separations created by national borders,  which can lead to the creation of a culture discriminatory towards Africans from other nations, like refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants.

The weekend was the physical manifestation of these ideals. Our group of 29 American college students worked along side activists from countries throughout the African continent. We discussed the foundations of human rights and what they are in practicality, studied a specific African country to develop a better knowledge of issues elsewhere on the continent, and took a closer look at refugee and asylum seeker rights and the difficulties these groups face while fleeing persecution in their home country.

Unfortunately I was sick for the weekend and was able to attend most of the sessions but not to interact with all of the other participants as much as I would have liked. My classmates have told me about some of the other participants’ stories and the work they do in their countries so I was able to experience this aspect of the program a bit vicariously through them.

Vincent Williams facilitating the
Human Rights Weekend

What I took from the program was how to be a better facilitator when working with groups at home. The facilitator for the weekend was Vincent, our South African Politics and History professor who also happened to cofound Africa Unite. He was able to capture and keep the attention of a group of over 50 young people throughout the day for an entire weekend. I am lucky if I can achieve this for an hour or two with activist groups at home. I am not going to write out a list of the things Vincent did that I need to adapt to do when facilitating because that would take a short essay to do justice to. Generally though I was reminded to be continually critical of myself and how I present and facilitate and how I organize the content I am presenting. Being adaptable and dynamic in relation to the group I am working with is far more affective than assuming the group will adapt to get the most out of facilitation.

Overall the weekend was a positive experience and I am certain it would have been even more so had I been well. Working and sharing ideas with individuals active in social justice movements throughout the African continent exposed us to perspectives we have never been exposed to before. This helps develop our understanding of the regional and international contexts in which many of the social structures we study in class operate. I think the more we reflect back on the weekend, the more we will see its benefits towards our understanding of the context and structures we are operating in and studying.