Learning Together for the Future - WCRP/HIVAN Youth Forum, March 2005

In the knowledge that empowering youth has become a pivotal goal in all programmes focused on HIV/AIDS and social change, the partnership between the World Conference on Religion and Peace (WCRP) and the Centre for HIV and AIDS Networking (HIVAN) has introduced a new track of Youth Forum sessions for 2005, themed as: ?“Learning Together for the Future?”.

At the first day-long session held on 16 March 2005 in Durban, WCRP?’s Co-ordinator Paddy Meskin welcomed a diverse gathering of young people, selected from 21 KZN schools and four local communities to represent their ?“constituencies?”. ?“We want to prepare for the future on behalf of all youth,?” she said, ?“because our lives and wellbeing depend upon all of us acting on that concern.?”

She urged the learners to share the day?’s experiences and insights with others in their home and school environment, so that through such extended networking, the Forum could reach more people and areas. Each learner was provided with a specially compiled Community Resource Pack to lodge in their school library or community centre, and to use as a tool for focused discussions on issues relevant to their needs. They were encouraged to gather and record comments, questions and insights from these community-based discussions and report on them at the next planned session of the Forum Series, to be held mid-year.

Paddy introduced the team of 12 facilitators (which included both isiZulu and English first-language speakers for translation needs), reminding the delegates that fun and fulfilment were the primary goals of the day?’s activities. These had been designed to bring them into closer touch with themselves as individuals, as groups and as role-players in wider society.

The programme began with two ?“ice-breaker?” exercises. Standing in a circular group, the participants inscribed their names in the air using parts of their bodies - beginning with fingers, then feet, and (while trying to contain their laughter) using their heads and belly-buttons. The group then played a team-building game called ?“Lifeboats?”, in which learners moved around a specific area, and imagined that they were adrift on the ocean with a storm brewing. The facilitator called out a number below 10, and the large group would have to act quickly to form a smaller group (or lifeboat) of the required number in order to ?“survive?”. Those who could not do so in time ?“drowned?” and had to stand out of the game until those who remained at its close were visible as the winners.

Garey Davis, a HIVAN Peer Facilitator from UKZN?’s Durban Campus HIV/AIDS Support Unit, led the next activity, which was a participatory task called ?“Negotiating Space?”. Its purpose was to make the session and the work comfortable for everyone by collectively drawing up courtesy and conduct rules. The learners elected to ban discriminatory actions, interrupting and talking over others, smoking, active cellphones, swearing and aggressive behaviour, litter, graffiti and any other form of disrespect for the venue. They chose to be self-disciplined, to promote peace, to honour privacy and confidentiality, to pay attention, to address each other clearly, and to keep smiling and having fun.

The delegates had been given coloured stickers to place on a communal Feedback Chart, in order to rate each activity on a scale ranging from ?“Excellent?” to ?“Good?” to ?“Fair?”. Although most feedback was very positive for all the programme elements, it was interesting that the ?“Negotiating Space?” activity attracted a moderate response, perhaps because the learners were not used to the participatory process of formulating their own rules, being rather more familiar with receiving these boundaries from authority figures. The Forum team might facilitate exploratory exercises to enhance levels of self-expression during future workshops.

Bren Brophy, Co-ordinator of HIVAN?’s Artists?’ Action Around AIDS campaign, then briefed the delegates on the main work of the programme, which was themed ?“The Landscape of my Life?”. Asking them to form smaller groups at work-tables according to the colour of their name-tags, he explained that the day?’s experience would constitute a kind of journey. This adventure would begin with an exercise to create a visual piece called a collage, as an expression of themselves and their own life-story, real and imagined.

The collage would be formed by using images cut from magazines and glued to an A3 sheet of paper, and embellishing these with drawings, doodles and other designs done in oil pastel crayons and Koki-pens. The choice of pictures was to be based on the ideas most important to the individual learner, whether for themselves or for the world. ?“The story will develop by using pictures that evoke strong feelings for you ?– whether happy or sad or disturbing - and marks on the page that help to contain the images,?” said Bren. ?“You don?’t have to explain these feelings or choices to anyone; at this stage it is a private journey.?”

During the hour allocated for this work, the teams, each accompanied by a facilitator, shared the materials and engaged, to varying degrees, with each other as the process of the collage-creation unfolded. Some teams were very open and at ease with one another, chatting about the exercise as they performed it, while others took time and silence to give the activity careful thought and to make their creative decisions.

Once the collages were complete, the next phase of the work, entitled ?“Giving Voice?”, involved naming the picture. Bren asked the learners to think carefully about the reason behind their choice of images, and to write a single word for that meaning on the picture itself. Those who had already incorporated words or statements into their collages were urged to try to reduce the phrases to one word or idea that would effectively explain its underlying meaning. Discussion with team-mates and facilitators was encouraged so that everyone could identify the core factors surrounding or underlying their choice of picture, e.g. relationships, family, conflict, unemployment, education, crime, HIV/AIDS.

The full report can be downloaded on the righthand side of this page