South Africa

I have been to southern Africa twice (June 2005 and January 2007) and remain involved directly or indirectly in two ongoing projects in Swaziland and South Africa.

The Hope Foundation | The Kingdom of Swaziland.
In the early summer of 2005 I was part of a team that visited the Kingdom of Swaziland in south-eastern Africa. Our trip focused on HIV/AIDS education and prevention and was coordinated through a collaboration of The Hope Foundation (an NGO), Teen Challenge and Lighthouse Orphanages in Swaziland. Another Cincinnati designer and myself, both UC faculty, along with eight students, did extensive research in Swaziland gathering interviews, photography, video and artifacts as well as hands on contact with AIDS victims and orphans.

Students subsequently developed communication prototypes including: branding, curriculum, narrative, graphic and animated story telling, and teaching games—all to be developed into a comprehensive educational and awareness program designed to stem the spread of HIV/AIDS in Swaziland. Curriculum prototypes have subsequently been printed, approved by the government Minister of Health, and distributed by teams in a number of locations in Swaziland.

SAHAC | South Africa.
I have been to the Johannesburg area of South Africa twice, (June 2005 and January 2007) as part of the team to help assess needs and lend design expertise and strategy to SAHAC’S work focused on reduction of HIV/AIDS infection rates.

SAHAC’s (Southern Africa HIV/AIDS Collaboration) goal is to see a 50% reduction in HIV/AIDS infection within five years. The target: pre teens and teens with highest infection rate (38% in Soweto). The strategy: Change the worldview of target audience challenging them to sexual fidelity: (a) Preserve the sexual debut for marriage (abstinence), (b) Reduce the number of sexual partners in marriage to one (be faithful) and (c) Increase the number of high risk individuals using condoms.  This faith based project is a working prototype and if successful, it is our desire to transplant this model elsewhere across southern Africa.

Our base of operations is a community called Orlando East, located in one of Africa’s most well known townships, Soweto (South Western Township). This is South Africa’s oldest township, a suburb of Johannesburg started in 1948 when the whites moved the blacks out of the city to deepen the separation between the races. Soweto has a deep reputation throughout South Africa as it was here, in the summer of 1976, that hundreds of students were gunned down by the government during youth demonstrations. These horrific deaths began to break the back of Apartheid.

It is staggering to realize just how successful was the goal of dividing the races in South Africa. Last year while here I talked to a white South African woman who was maybe in her early 70’s. She told me that she was born and raised here in the Johannesburg area, and that she was fifteen before she met her first black man. The oppression of Apartheid has resulted in immense poverty, poor health, severe unemployment and core identity issues for the black culture. And nowhere is this more evident that in Soweto. In the squatter settlements of Orlando East, where the most transitional population resides, the poverty is most extreme. Many families live crowded into small places where there is no room, no vegetation and usually no electricity or running water. A central facility is used to do the communal laundry, take showers etc. Due to the extreme poverty and lack of opportunity in the rural areas, a transient population flocks to Soweto looking for any chance of education and or jobs. Without infrastructure to handle this influx, you end up with something akin to a refugee experience.
 
Our time in South Africa is focused mainly on building a team of folks on the ground in a number of different sectors: Churches, Community Health, Job Creation and Youth development. This is illustrated in the following diagram. http://visualfluency.com/southafrica/SAHAC_Visualization4.jpg   Along with development of both identity and marketing components,

Photographs. http://visualfluency.com/southafrica/   These images are from my recent trip in January of 2007. Some are images are showing the strategic meetings we coordinated, a four hour Sunday morning church service, and also some of the schools we were at during distribution of a New Testament that has an HIV/AIDS focus challenging the youth to sexual fidelity. These are public schools.  Another of the schools we surveyed youth regarding sexual conduct, and what might motivate them to be faithful to themselves. The remaining images were taken walking the beat in the neighborhood where we were staying.

Gifts. On each of the trips I have taken, I was able to take generous monetary gifts given to me by Vineyard Central friends and others. These gifts have gone to folks serving faithfully in the community in many capacities including youth work, orphanages and other places where resources are most sorely needed.

Owen Brock

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