On November 22nd I traveled with the Institute to a place
called Masipumelele. This place is on the opposite side of the mountain from
me. I went for a workshop; the topic of
the workshop was democracy. Democracy in South Africa is 20 years old and most
of the people are well over 20 years old so they were born under the Apartheid
government. We discussed what kinds of
barriers do people experience in their own lives that stop them from
participating and engaging their democracy.
It was a point of reflection for me because democracy has
always been a reality. Was interesting
to take a step back and to see how democracy is really put together, it doesn’t
make much difference if the government says there is democracy if the people
don’t believe there is and if they don’t participate. Because that’s how it
works, democracy is about empowering people to make their own decisions.
I didn’t realize what was going to happen at this seminar,
and I only started understanding days later after many of conversations. I was
in the midst of a women’s empowerment movement.
The seminar was mostly women, all women from the area and they talked
about democracy in their context. What
does democracy mean for a single mother with two kids? I couldn’t tell you an
answer, but one of the defining moments of the seminar was a discussion on
popular education. This is education
that is based on the knowledge that we already possess, the things that we
inherit or are taught by our parents and grandparents. The question was asked, so why aren’t we
doing anything with this knowledge. Why aren’t we taking advantage of the
skills that we already posses to make our lives better. If we can sew, why aren’t we making clothes
to sell, if we can make the best curry why aren’t we making that for other
people? One of the guest speakers spoke on exactly that, she went around
collecting items that other people threw away and began to make crafts with
those and she turned what started out as a hobby into a lucrative business that
is growing and her products are being exported and sold overseas.
I was able to record what happened at this seminar and made
it into a video. So take a look!
Enjoy
