Download PDFJozi Book Fair 2020 Launch
The Gauteng Community Health Care Forum (the Forum) participated in launching the Jozi Book Fair (JBF) 2020 Programme. The Launch (which took place on 4 September 2020) focused on the struggles of CHWs, a memorial to the late Tshepo ‘the Saint’ Matoko who passed away in June 2020 and it also celebrated the victory of CHWs. It happened online with Zoom and on the JBF Facebook page.
The JBF2020 launch honoured the memory of Tshepo ‘the Saint’ Matoko, with a discussion between Forum organiser Lillian Nhlapho and Oupa Lehulere, who both worked closely with Tshepo. The comrade spoke about his role in the forum, and also who he was an activist, a feminist and as a friend.
The Forum also participated in the launch through a discussion about the ‘Our Lives, Our Communities’ book that was written by CHWs, by sharing their stories and the experience they were facing. The discussion focused on literature and the writers of the stories in the book. Malena Phake and Karla Witbooi were the writers who were part of the discussion. To represent the readers of the book, Patricia Makhubu and Linda Mabena were part of the discussion. According to the writers and the readers, their experiences are almost the same and the book spoke to them and reflected what was happening in their lives.
The launch also discussed the victory of CHWs in Gauteng recently, who at last are permanent workers with benefit under the Gauteng Department of Health. For the past years CHWs have been struggling against Department of Health to be recognised as permanent workers. The Forum has also been struggling for better working conditions, ad the important role they play in improving the healthcare of their communities, and with dealing with pandemics, like HIV/AIDS and now COVID-19.
Journalism in the Time of Covid-19
The Khanya College Forum for Activist Journalism held a closed workshop event for all Activist Journalists in the FAJ Network. It was held physically at the House of Movements in Johannesburg and also with Zoom online and live on the JBF Facebook page on 14 November 2020.
The workshop consisted of sessions around understanding the politics of activist journalism, a session chaired by Cedric Nunn, in collaboration with the Market Photo Workshop and San photographer from the Kalahari Community Project.
The Khanya College Forum for Activist Journalism also launched the ‘Activist Journalism in the Time of COVID-19’ to the FAJs. This book has a collection of articles in the first six months of the COVID-19 pandemic (end of March to end of September 2020). Sisanda Lwana Kulima participated in this session as FAJ who writes about what is happening in her community, and who is a Community Healthcare Worker (CHW). She shared her experiences as a FAJ, and how it has affected her life.
Forum CHWs are a big part of the FAJ network, especially during COVID-19, as they share news about what is happening in clinics, hospitals and other healthcare facilities, and they also report on what is affecting the community.
This article was submitted on 3 December 2020. You may republish this article, so long as you credit the authors and Karibu! Online (www.Karibu.org.za), and do not change the text. Please include a link back to the original article.
