Training of racially mixed groups in South Africa

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Periodical article

Title:	Training of racially mixed groups in South Africa
Authors:	Swanepoel, Hennie De Beer, Frik
Year:	1995
Periodical:	The Community Development Journal: An International Journal for Community Workers
Volume:	30
Issue:	3
Pages:	296-303
Language:	English
Geographic term:	South Africa
Subjects:	race relations community development adult education
External link:	http://search.proquest.com/pao/docview/1304156245
Abstract:	In South Africa, community development training of racially mixed groups may be problematic because of existing distrust between the races, caused mainly by mutual ignorance. This case study depicts an occasion where the trainers chose to address the race issue instead of ignoring it as is usually the case. It concerns a five-day course attended by 40 people of which two thirds were female. The black-white division was about 55 percent to 45 percent. The trainees were responsible for initiating development in poor (black) urban communities. The trainers addressed the race issue by breaking down ignorance. The outcome was a drastic change in attitudes among both races, a keenness to find out more about each other, a gradual disappearance of distrust, and a closing of the gap between the races until a stage of nonracialism was reached that led to the development of a strong 'brotherhood'. The case study not only narrates how the situation developed, but also records how this process was 'managed' by the trainers. Notes.