Building A Multiracial, Multicultural Society In South Africa
Mike F. Weaver, DrPH, MPH
Assistant Professor
Morehouse College Public Health Sciences Institute
Being a new hire as junior faculty, I was so immersed in teaching and grant writing here at Morehouse that I overlooked opportunities for professional growth outside the realm of academia. A seasoned academic, pulled me into his office early in the spring semester and asked me about summer research activities. As director of Research Careers for the Department of Biology, he mentioned the CIEE-IFDS. He’d known several colleagues who recommended the seminar as a great career booster in regards to networking, collaborations and cultural expansion.
The faculty leader provided a yeoman’s job in coordinating lecturers who truly presented South Africa from a social, cultural and political context. I took copious notes and had very reflective journal entries in the evenings. Due to the business of the semester, I was not able to get through any of the suggested readings. I appreciate the lecturers who filled in the many blanks for bringing the IFDS participants up to speed on South Africa’s past and present. There was a thread of consistency sewn between each of the lecturers on South Africa’s history. Coming from a public health background, I thought the HIV/AIDS component could have been shored up quite a bit. However, each session was of value.
Another part of the IFDS’s strength was the balance between the classroom and the site visits. Throughout the entire visit, I was in student/learning mode. I was amazed by what I heard from the lecturers and just as amazed by what I saw during the site visits. Of all the site visits, Kiyalitsche stands out as the most prominent. My travels have been limited to the U.S., the Caribbean and parts of Europe. I had never witnessed that level of abject poverty. Somehow the residents were able to create and maintain some sense of community. The children still smiled and played. Becoming somewhat homesick for my own family, I often played and danced with the children when the opportunity. I chimed in on “Nkosi Sikeli Afrika” on occasion. Having graduated from Morehouse, I was familiar with the African National Congress national anthem.
I also thoroughly enjoyed the commentary from the tour guides, Mervin Wessells, Nicolas Schofield and Alina Nkosi. It was great to get their perspective from a not-so-academic-yet-educational viewpoint. I even appreciated when their personal biases slipped in. Their opinions revealed just how much further South Africa has to go for pluralism, if it’s ever to be attained. For the sake of balancing the program’s content, I believe there should be a lecture from an Afrikaan’s perspective. Particularly, a perspective from an Afrikaan who’s steeped in the “old South African way”—for lack of calling it apartheid.
I established many contacts in South Africa with university personnel and community practitioners. I’ve begun initial communications with many of these contacts. In addition, University of the Western Cape has a formal relationship with Morehouse’s sister institution Spelman College. At present Morehouse is looking to expand its relationship with institutions in Africa. I’m actually intrigued by the idea of spending a semester at one of South Africa’s preeminent institutions. Given the HIV/AIDS pandemic, I’m fascinated as a researcher to find if my research protocol is applicable to Africans. I’m using the network I’ve established as a means to initiate this type of collaboration in South Africa.
Having served as executive director for a community development corporation where our mission was to produce affordable housing opportunities for low-to-moderate income families, I understand the necessity of “cottage industries” to create an economically viable and thriving community. So even though there is a major Black Economic Empowerment initiative in South Africa, it seems that the locals lament the monies don’t trickle down to neighborhood businesses and individual entrepreneurship. With my community empowerment mindset, I’m thinking of ways to support community-based businesses like Vicky’s Bed and Breakfast in Kiyalitsche or Alina’s Tourism and Eatery. Obviously, I’m only able to refer these businesses and the like to those who have the wherewithal to travel to South Africa. I send out emails regularly to my international email list, suggesting patronage of these businesses and the local economy during South African travels. I’ve also been approached to share my South Africa experience during this year’s National Black Arts Festival (www.nbaf.org) in July. Coincidentally, the NBAF’s focus this year is South Africa and the American South.