Communicators to promote peace

People from around the world will discuss the theme of Communication and peace: building viable communities, at a global meeting organised by the World Association for Christian Communication (WACC).

Immediately prior to Congress members of WACC Africa will meet near the Cape Town Waterfront for their triennial Assembly. It is hoped that many from the continent who attend this meeting will be able to stay on for the Congress experience.

It will provide an opportunity for delegates from regions of the continent that have experienced recent conflict to share their stories of peacemaking and peace reporting with people from other parts of the world. It will also enable African delegates, for whom travel to other continents is expensive, to extend their network of contacts with other communicators. Local residents will tell their stories of past struggles as well as the current reality of living with HIV and Aids.

One whole day of the congress will be devoted to two visits that still scar the soul of many South Africans. A morning session will be held away from the comfort of the Ritz Hotel in the Gugulethu Presbyterian Church, situated in one of the townships created under the apartheid regime in which indigenous black Africans were forced to live.

Gugulethu was the scene of several violent confrontations between anti-apartheid activists and security forces during that era, and is still a suburb that reflects the poverty in which many on the African continent must survive.

Participants will also visit Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela and other leaders of the country’s liberation struggle were imprisoned under brutal conditions. The island was originally used as a leper colony and later became a prison. Today, it is a museum that reminds visitors of people’s inhumanity amid vistas of breathtaking natural beauty.

Cape Town, at the southern tip of Africa, is the mid-point on the sea journey from Europe to Asia and, since the voyages of discovery in the fifteenth century, has accommodated many visitors and settlers on its shores. Today, it is a touchdown point for air travellers between Asia and Australasia on their way to South America.

The city often scores highly as a convention and tourist centre in various international surveys, and delegates to Congress will be able to enjoy the excellent facilities that this truly global city has to offer.

A Local Arrangements Committee (LAC) will be facilitating all these and other arrangements for people attending Congress, trying to ensure that they have a truly African experience. LAC is made up of members of organisations convened by WACC Africa Region Treasurer Dave Wanless. They include staff and interns of the South African Media and Gender Institute, the Salty Print Employment Project and Bush Radio.

Congress takes place in less than one year’s time. It will be an exciting and memorable event for all who take part. So don’t just read about it afterwards. Be there! Take part! Join us in Cape Town and help change the world!

By Dave Wanless, Local Arrangements Committee Coordinator for Congress 2008 also Treasurer, WACC-Africa region. Email: dave@saltyprint.org.za