Children's Movement - South Africa

General Council Meeting  Report back on the Field visit at Queenstown and Whitlesea

The workshop was attended by 30 members from different groups and schools. The members were reporting on what they were doing since they last saw each other. I as their co-ordinator, I was there to assist them and to introduce the Anti-Racism and Xenophobia Campaign so that they can see what they can do on the matter but we all decided that I will introduce it at one or two of the schools and the other groups can get it from the groups that I will introduce it to.

Expectations from the Meeting Workshop
 Who will be their co-ordinator in the area?
 To be part of the programmes happening in East London
 Decide on the time and date of meetings and programmes

After members raised their expectations from this meeting we decided on taking these expectations to be the agenda of the day so that they can explain more about these and we can try to come up with the solutions and the way forward on these matters.
The members elected Khayakazi Mrwebi and Asandiswa who will coordinate the groups and give the report to the office but everyone is responsible for the work in their groups, we explained the things we expected from the members to do for the members.
The consent was that East London is doing exciting programs that they think that they can learn allot from but they are not part and they think that the regional coordinator will be better if he can come from time to time or invite some of the members to train the others as they don't have someone who can do the training or has attended the training.

As their coordinator I promised them that I will speak with Unathi to see how can we overcome this issue and try to communicate more with the people that I think can be able to give them training but I also mention that it wont be easy as when they just have the workshop but I will try to help where I can.The issue of the time: members were complaining of not having time to meet and do these programmes as most of the groups we have are groups that are in schools most of them they stay in different areas only able to meet at school, they found it difficult to meet after school as it is the only time for them. They would love to be given time off during school time like on the Sports Day as they normally have a sports day once a week.
It was decided that members from each school can go to the principal to ask for the time that they think they can use that wont be a problem for the school when the school re-opens.
We agreed that I will go and do the field visit to meet some of the members who did not attend the workshop and give them training at the same time to assess how they are doing at school.
After a long time the members decided on showing what they do in addressing the difficulties they face in the communities as young girls and boys. After all it was nice to be with the members and see them trying to improve their lives. After the workshop I went to Sibuyele Combined School where I met the members and implemented the campaign that was launched in the Western Cape. I explained it to them what we did and asked them to share what they know about racism and xenophobia. The members seemed to enjoy it. What I like about it is that they realised how badly they treated other people from different races and countries without realizing how they were hurting them. The workshop was fruitful and I was happy about the way they responded. The promised me to implement it to the other groups.