Library > Social Sciences & Culture > Conflict Resolution

Healing the nation

2000
This project attempts to contribute to the healing of South Africa by exploring two key issues. The first issue is that of the political violence of the apartheid era. The second is the current HIV/AIDS crisis. We have decided to focus our project on a small community, Mpophomeni, which in many ways is typical the situation in South Africa. During the struggle years, it experienced a high level of violence and police brutality. Currently, it has an 80% unemployment rate, and a high HIV infection rate. What we have attempted to do, is to provide an open-ended resource which the Mpophomeni community (young and old) can use to explore and discuss the past and present problems. We feel this is particularly important in the area of HIV/AIDS, as there is a taboo on this subject area, and yet it is essential that people start to openly share their views. We have also atempted to find out people's views by means of interviews and surveys. We hope also that this project provides an insight into the real South Africa, rather than the unproblematic, picturesque, post-apartheid miracle which is the view of many. Through our discussion area, we invite people from all over the world to interact with real people and the real issues they face.