Lydia Mitchell

“Do your little bits of good where you are; it’s those little bits put
 together that overwhelm the world.”
 -Archbishop Desmond Tutu

We arrived at the University of Zululand (UniZul) around 6 pm on Wednesday May 9th.  After two days of traveling the 17 of us were worn out.  But we were excitedly greeted by a host of UniZul staff at the university guest houses.  On Friday we had the pleasure of meeting the 110 students we would be working with for the following week.  The 2007 Pedagogy of Action students from UniZul came from several different departments; Nursing, Social Work, Mathematics and
Psychology.  We spent our time at the university learning from the students about the university, the Zulu Culture, the social fabric of Kwa Zulu-Natal and the lives of the students. Our first few
days in Kwa Zulu-Natal South Africa were a great beginning to a very busy trip.

Monday morning, May 14th, brought the hard work.  In four short days we taught the HIV/AIDS prevention education module to the UniZul students who then worked very hard to translate into Zulu, Xhosa, and Tswana.  By Wednesday most of the students had earned their certificates by learning, translating and teaching the module to others.  Our hope is that these students will continue to teach more people how to teach the module.  This has been an experience unimaginable in its beauty and power.  To meet people and learn about their lives is always an exciting process.  But most of us have only read about peoples’ lives here in Africa.  Seeing what you have been told come to life, meeting people just like you; college students with exams, social lives, passion and excitement, is the
experience of a lifetime.  What has made meeting the students and university staff most impacting for me is that in a place, across the ocean, at a university that is very different from mine, there are people just like us.  People trying to build up their communities; people trying to motivate students to look for solutions to the biggest social problems.  And while our communities are not identical, they do have similar problems and many of us have the same passion, desire and ache to help build stronger communities.

Our time at the University of Zululand was filled with hospitality from staff and students.  Everybody we met was doing whatever little things they could, not only to make our stay wonderful but to make the work we were all doing successful.  We are very grateful to have had this opportunity, for all the people we met and for everything we learned about ourselves and life in Kwa Zulu-Natal and the University of Zululand. Our contribution was a small one, but we feel strongly  Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s words – “Do your little bits of good where you are; its those little bits put together that overwhelm the world.”

Signing off, Lydia Mitchell, teammate Pedagogy of Action 2007