Rocky Block with Fazela Haniff

This dispatch is written by Rocky Block who wrote an earlier dispatch on Shavani Naidoo. I asked him to write this one because he has known Fazela (my sister) Aunty Fa for many years since this is his fifth trip with POA.

Enjoy, Nesha Haniff

Click on the link below to view an interview with Fazela Haniff:

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzMWwbm5870

Genuine Hospitality Pouring From Her Spirit

What’s behind the scenes?  Participants of the POA gain invaluable experience through the people we work with, the sites and sounds of cities and rural areas and engaging in cultural activities.  One of my personal favorite experiences is when we get to talk and eat with Aunty Fa because she is one of the main reasons POA exists in South Africa.  Aunty Fa is behind the scenes every year with genuine hospitality pouring from her spirit as she hugs strangers, sets up logistics for us to complete our work and cooks the most delicious cuisine you will ever have in your life.

Fazela Haniff, also known as Aunty Fa by the POA students, lives in Johannesburg and has been an instrumental member of the POA since its origins.  Fazela is the Director and Lead Consultant at Freelance Consulting and has been the Director at the WITS International Office, Head of Department at the WITS Career Development Unit, Corporate HR Africa at L’Oreal and an HR Consultant at TELP among other positions in the past.  She used her expertise from these fields to facilitate the collaboration between the University of Michigan and South African partners.  Her high level of political and social consciousness saw the potential for the oral methodology to be utilized in communities in areas of greatest need.  This especially included the partnerships the POA gained through the University of Witwatersrand (WITS), University of Zululand, and Durban University of Technology and also with community members such as Monte Casino employees and L’Oreal factory workers. Her ability to be a liaison for the program has helped Dr. Nesha Haniff establish relationships with individuals such as Gugu Gule and the University of Zululand. Engaging with the University of Zululand has been arguably the most important relationship because of the rural university’s high HIV prevalence and the incidence rate in the surrounding Kwa-Zulu Natal region.  Aunty Fa’s ability to comprehend the theoretical importance of the module and provide practical spaces to implement the training displays the true meaning of praxis, empowerment and transformation.

She even helps with the seemingly small details of logistics, such as helping students obtain local phones to stay in contact with each other and their families back home.  Aunty Fa displays South African hospitality to the POA students as she invites us into her home to cook for us every year.  Not only does she cook for us, she makes the most delicious deep fried eggplant that will convert any carnivore lover to enjoying vegetables.  She gets to know the students’ dreams and aspirations as she talks to each and every participant despite the busy schedule of the program.  If students need to have an additional place to stay after the program she offers to help with accommodations, if students need to go to a hospital she offers to drive them.  Aunty Fa truly serves as the most gracious relative students could have abroad and I personally regard her as my beloved Aunt.  She makes the POA program run in South Africa.  Without Aunty Fa the POA program would not have been possible in South Africa and for those of us who have experienced her love, we are forever grateful.  When individuals think about the POA program, they should know that it was not possible without Aunty Fa.

Rocky Block
Pedagogy of Action Team Member 2012