This
week in Kuyasa at Prevention in Action we spent most of our time preparing for
the Strategic Planning exercise we have been working towards since the
beginning of our time there. A lot of that time involved helping our co-workers
to mobilize the community and invite other stakeholder organizations, which was
an incredible thing to observe. Working in the community that is Kuyasa can
sometimes be difficult in that there are so many things that need to happen and
such limited funds available to make those things happen however, watching the
incredible support that the people have for the organization and us has
restorative abilities. I am still overwhelmed by how welcoming the people we
meet continue to be towards Kayla and I, despite the sometimes-apparent
language barrier.
It
also felt a little different in Kuyasa because we were invited to sit down and
eat with some of the women we work with at the end of both of the days we spent
there. Though the gesture might seem small, for these women to ask us to sit
with them and share in their homemade dishes made me feel as though I was part
of their communal family and that is not a gift I will soon forget. We came
into Kuyasa as obvious outsiders that were sort of unsure as to our place in
involvement and now I am much more sure of that place. Obviously we are still
outsiders coming from extreme privilege that needs to be recognized however;
when we go into Kuyasa and engage with the people there now I feel like I am
amongst friends whom I will be sad to say goodbye to.
I
expect this coming weekend to be a busy one between the Strategic Planning
Workshop in Kuyasa on Friday and Saturday and completing our mural at
Heaven’s Nest but I have come to realize that above all of the sights to see
and places to go here, some of my best experiences in Cape Town have come from
engaging with communities and getting my hands dirty. I am happy that I get to
spend one of my last weekends primarily doing that.
No comments:
Post a Comment