NewsHour Extra covers the conference with Global Kids and Manhattan Neighborhood Network

Online NewsHour
RealAudio: The U.S. and Israel pullout of the U.N. racism conference. (9/3/01)

Video from
Durban

Diaries from Durban

Diaries by
Annie V.

Day 8

Day 7

Day 6

Day 5

Day 4

Day 3

Day 2

Day 1

Diaries from Durban
Annie V.
Global Kids

I'm terribly claustrophobic. If we start driving soon I think I'll survive this trip. We are going to a place outside Durban called The Valley of a Thousand Hills, with Umtapo, the South African organization we will be doing our workshop with this morning.

I have never been this squashed before. I wish I could move, but I can't.

George is one of the nice guys I'm seated next to. He likes to talk, and has good things to say, unlike some others who like to talk but don't really say anything important.

There's more space now. I'm so grateful I'm no longer squished.

I have been going through a transitional stage this whole week. I just realized that I am not always happy and that I don't have to hide this. I have been pretending for too long.

I'm not nervous about facilitating the workshops...I don't know why. Maybe once I get there I will be.

Later...

The workshop just ended. The participants are filling out their evaluation forms. I hope their reactions are positive because I think I did a good job. I don't think the processing and segue of the Human Scavenger Hunt went too well. The Human Scavenger Hunt is an icebreaker where people have to find as many people as they can to answer the questions on their sheet. Oh well, there's always room for improvement.

During Frozen Pictures, four groups used their bodies and froze in a position that described a theme, which today was either racism during apartheid or racism after apartheid ended. Then we talked about what kind of racism people see and what has and hasn't changed with the end of apartheid.

In XYZ, we spread out in two groups. Group A was the
privileged group, and group B was told that they wanted to become part of group A. People in group B were handed pieces of paper that had letters X, Y and Z on them. When people in group B went to people in group A, the Xs were automatically allowed into the group, the Ys had to negotiate their way in and the Zs were not allowed in no matter what. Afterwards, we had a discussion about how this experience relates to their
life in South Africa.

The final activity was about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Participants were handed the UDHR, told to read it, and then they formed their own declaration of human rights.

If I had had to facilitate Frozen Pictures, XYZ, or the different components of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights activity, I doubt that I would have done it well. I have to admit, though, I always manage to have energy and a smile when I'm facilitating...although I've only facilitated six or seven times in the past.

Now we are on our way to see another part of Umtapo's
programs, a women's center down in the valley in a rocky farming community. I am scared because the van is going way too fast. I can't take this; the road is too windy! The worst that could happen is that I could fall and die. I'm trying to imagine that I'm on a cloud. I can't do it, I am still scared. This is a terrible roller coaster.

Even later...

What would life be like for you if you had to walk three hours to work or school? Every day? Twice a day? Seven days a week?

What would you do if you heard that women with no money at all started a community center and figured out a means to make money? Well, today I met some women who do such things. They make beautiful necklaces and bracelets to raise money for their center. I am happy for them even if the drive down was terrible. It is a good thing that they are doing.