Central City Youth Against Violence

On June 21st 2008, HM Social Services, Inc. and Consciously Rebuilding, Inc. participated in and assisted in the "Central City Youth Against Violence" event. The event included a peace walk and a dedication to Nicola Cotton--a young police officer who was killed while attempting to arrest a rape suspect in Central City. The event is a milestone for Central City and working towards a safer future.



Andrea got the chance to chat with Mayor C. Ray Nagin about Consciously Rebuilding, and the Central City Comeback Committee that we are members of who sponsored the event.



We support these efforts and look forward to more events like these in the future.

Networks and Non-profits

I had a meeting with the Learning Network and various NGOs on 7/10/2008 to discuss the role of the network, expectations, and responsibilities of member organizations.

What struck me as an Executive Director is that issues that I'm faced with are the same issues that these NGOs are faced with when targeting marginalized and vulnerable populations. They notice the same organizations getting funding and the issues staying the same, many organizations are dissolving because they don't have the capacity, new organizations are having difficulty finding a niche and would like mentorship from older organizations, and people are tired of having meetings about meetings and no work. This is something that expands across countries, organizations, ethnicities, etc. It's time to work together to get things done. The organizations present were Women on Farms, Ikaya Labanthu, Ikamva Labanthu, Department of Health, and an Epilepsy Organization. They all wanted the network to benefit them all not just some, and that's the key to a healthy relationship.

This is where Consciously Rebuilding is at.... action, unity, collaborations, reciprocity. We have learned in the past that there is a difference between "paying your dues" and being taken advantaged of by a one-sided relationship. The goals, objectives, values, and structure of this network is teaching me about governance that surely applies to Consciously Rebuilding and our growth. Being a part of this experience is customizing my expertise, and the product of Consciously Rebuilding. This training and knowledge is priceless, and will be applied to our operations and look forward to bringing these skills back.

More School

This course is awesome. We got the opportunity to talk about rights (movement, Dignity is real big here, quality of life, health, safety, healthy environment, etc.) and how they relate to varying cases of drug resistant TB. The overall theme is that with issues of health and human rights, there are many layers that need to be addressed. Sometimes adherence is also beyond some people's control. We learned of psychotic side-effects, drug unavailability within the hospital, delayed diagnosis, patient exclusion in terms of informed consent and counseling....all of these things lead to the mismanagement of a highly contagious disease. But there is hope, especially as the Right to Health and Patients Rights are growing issues within the scope of Public Health and Medicine.

Public Health and Human Rights

Never before did I think health--access, treatment, and indicators---is a free human right. Of course there are limitations within the system's available resources, but more specifically, I never thought that I could have free health treatment outside of the free clinic (which is now sliding scale fee). We are taking a Public Health and Human Rights course that is opening my eyes to what rights are and how my health is a right. We've been talking about what are human rights, the interrelationship between health and human rights, the international and domestic policies surrounding health and human rights, and the individual's responsibility to be educated and properly informed of his/her right.

We also spoke freely about the rights of SA citizens, legal inhabitants, and illegal inhabitants....and under the public sector (government funded) NO ONE can be denied health care regardless of citizenship or legal status.




































For example, there are Zimbabwean refugees here in Khayelitsha near Cape Town and their living conditions and health conditions have become a question of human rights. They were invited to a People's Health Movement meeting on July 1, to share their experiences for a future violations case (declared refugees are legal and protected), and also make clear the role of PHM in attaining rights to unpaid wages, nutritional hot food (it's winter), health care for pregnant women, TB treatment, etc.


The Zimbabwean guests also expressed concerns of exploitation by non-profits and NGOs that have been buzzing around, asking for meetings and various interviews with the 1000s that live in the Desmond Tutu facility and then they disappear never to be seen again. They wanted to know that PHM would not be another case of one-sidedness and that they would be disclosed of the outcomes of their interviews and testimony.

This particularly struck a chord with me and my experiences in a post-Katrina New Orleans. Many people experienced one-sided relationships where government, private and NGOs were perceived to be the beneficiary of funding based on the status of displaced New Orleanians. This accountability and trust is a global issue, and a value of communication and transparency is proudly a part of Consciously Rebuilding.

......

......Non-profit accountability
......The role of NGOs
......The right to health

These have been profound topics that I have been dealing with over the past week. It's amazing how talking about health and human rights gives me a perspective on life that I've never thought about.....especially under the conditions that I am in.

Black South African people have been oppressed in their own country so long that the fight is still fresh....the light is still on. It's amazing when I heard one woman argue against perceived pessimism.....She simply said that as a Black woman having fought in the 70s, 80s, and 90s, and that the progress and freedoms that Madiba (Nelson Mandela) brought about are worth the having the hope that human rights will be reached. She said that she's not giving up the fight, that yes their Constitution has issues with implementation, but that's where your role as a citizen is needed......to make sure what is supposed to happen, happens, and she will keep fighting to see it through.

This emotion and passion summarized my purpose of hope and life.


I must also add that I had an Epiphany yesterday while watching a video on HIV/AIDS rights, and the right that an HIV positive mother has to protect her child from contracting the virus. As I watched the footage from 1998-2005, I thought about what I was doing around that time--school, traveling, hanging out with friends, occasional parties....I couldn't believe all this was going on--the marches, the arrest, the protests, the babies dying, the law suits, courtrooms, all this amongst the backdrop of singing, dancing, holding one another and smiling. That's when it hit me....I felt a stir in my soul that these were my people, our people. My brothers, sisters, cousins, grandparents. I felt an overwhelming sense of belonging and what responsibility and rights actually meant.

I get it, I got it.

Like the woman implied, we didn't come this far to simply get discouraged and give up.... and if that means more fighting then we will