Mission Exposure
Assembly participants can look forward to visiting several notable sites that are listed below during the Mission Exposure trip to glean firsthand experience in understanding the African response to apartheid, oppression, and injustice that had been wrought through the generations via life-denying atrocities such as slavery, war, and crime.
Institute for Healing of Memories (IHOM)
The Institute for Healing of Memories (IHOM) was founded in 1998 by Fr. Michael Lapsley, SSM, who lost both hands and an eye in a letter bomb attack in Zimbabwe 1990. The Healing of Memories Workshop was first developed to run in parallel to South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (1996-1997), creating additional platforms for those who wished to share their experiences and be heard compassionately.
Over the years, the workshops were offered through the length and breadth of the country, and in 1998 the IHOM was born. It has since spread to other parts of the world, in areas where victims of war are supported.
Today, the scars of the past continue to shape the lives, attitudes, and choices of South Africans so our original focus remains as important as ever. However, as time has gone on the relevance of the IHOM methodology to a wider range of groups and issues has become apparent and so the focus of our work has broadened. The IHOM seeks to contribute to lasting individual and collective healing that makes possible a more peaceful and just future, through Prevention, Healing, and Empowerment.
Website: https://healing-memories.org/
Inanda Seminary UCCSA
Welcome to Inanda Seminary! The Inanda Seminary is an independent girls’ secondary school situated in Inanda township near Durban, South Africa. Since 1869 it has built a proud reputation for educating black South African women who have gone into the world exemplifying the school’s motto of “Shine Where You Are”.
Website: https://inanda.org/
iCARE
iCare is a non-profit Christian organisation, devoted to finding a sustainable solution to the problem of street children in the city of Durban and surrounding areas.
The iCare mission is centred on being the leading organization that solves the problems of street children in South Africa through faith and by understanding and addressing every aspect of each child’s needs. iCare works with partnerships in the implementation of its programmes.
iCare’s main aim is to transform street children into effective members of society by providing food, clothing, rehabilitation, education, and skills through tailor-made holistic programmes.
The organisation has been working with street children in the city for more than 22 years and has many success stories to tell. To date, the lives of more than 2,000 boys have transformed since they walked through iCare’s doors.
Website: https://icare.co.za/
Bobbi Bear
Operation Bobbi Bear is a human rights organization committed to helping sexually abused children in Amanzimtoti, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa.
A “Bobbi Bear” is a non-threatening means (bear) for child victims of sexual abuse to communicate the nature of the abuse, crossing all language barriers and preventing secondary abuse at the point of rescue.
It provides a better understanding of actual events and enables the initiation of appropriate HIV and AIDS interventions. Our success rate is testament to our organization’s training programmes.
Bobbi Bear rescues and provides safe homes for abused children, works with the criminal justice system to prosecute perpetrators, educates individuals and communities, and much, much more.
Website: https://bobbibear.org.za/
The ReStory Foundation
The ReStory Foundation is a non-profit organisation grown from the Bhambayi Project, that empowers the marginalized, especially orphans and vulnerable children and youth, to be courageous agents of change.
The Foundation’s mission is to ignite positive cycles of living and giving. Through this, identities are strengthened, trauma resilience develops, and agency grows. As a result, lives are restored and narratives changed across the nation.
Having a thoughtful approach to all that they do, the ReStory Foundation began through a partnership with the Bhambayi community (the informal settlement part of Inanda, which is the township). Bhambayi is home to one of the most marginalised and under resourced communities in South Africa.
While they are still very rooted within this community, their reach has begun to extend beyond it.
The ReStory Foundation seeks to ignite positive cycles of growth within individuals and the community, always looking into being intentional around issues of agency, by providing the platform for those within the community to become a courageous agent of change themselves, empowered to make a positive difference in the world, thus changing the trajectories of their lives, as well as the lives around them.
Website: https://www.restoryfoundation.co.za/
Groutville Conference Centre and Chief Albert Luthili Museum
Ten kilometres to the south of KwaDukuza, cushioned among the sugar cane hills is Groutville, a peri-urban settlement. Groutville was formerly a mission reserve administered by a Chief elected by the Christian community (AbaseMakholweni).
Groutville was previously known as the Umvoti Mission Reserve, until it was renamed Groutville after the first missionary from the American Board of Commissioners, Rev. Aldin Grout.
Grout and his wife Charlotte arrived in KwaZulu-Natal in 1836, and after failing to make substantial progress in deep Zululand, settled near the Umvoti River where he introduced a system of “individual land ownership”, which encouraged people to cultivate and till the land. Due to the success of farming in the area, a sugar mill was established to support aspiring African farmers.
Unbeknownst to many, Groutville also has the distinction of having been the birthplace of one of South Africa’s literary pioneers, the poet and author, B. W. Vilakazi, to whom a local primary school was named after.
Groutville represented a microcosm of the greater context and the complexities that all South Africans of colour face. Eventually, the hardships that people experienced in Groutville influenced Luthuli to look at the broader context of South Africa, where he realized that the plight of the African was in fact, a national problem.
The UCCSA has plans are in the pipeline to build a conference centre in Groutville.
Website: https://luthulimuseum.org.za/
Space Furniture Making
My Space Academy is a Seta accredited private provider of highly sought-after, technical. qualifications, courses, and training in South Africa. The company director is a young woman who possesses strong Christian character. Together with strategic partners – eThekwini Municipality, have been intensively establishing and developing entrepreneurs, with a focus in Furniture Making, Clothing and Textile, 3D Design and development Entrepreneurship mindset, training, and mentorship. My Space Academy offers high quality and flexible learning options. The training center is in the informal settlement where there is a high level of unemployment and poverty. The target group is the poorest; young women and youth who are unemployed.
Website: https://www.myspaceacademy.co.za/