Workshop Announcement & Programme

Hope in the time of AIDS

A SACOMM (South African Communication Association) Workshop - Samuel Pauw Building , Seminar Room 2, University of South Africa 4-5 November 2005

The South African Communication Association (SACOMM) works for the enhancement of Communication Studies (including Media Studies) as an academic discipline in Southern Africa; and encourages contact and co-operation among various departments in tertiary education institutions offering Communication Studies, as well as acknowledged communication research bodies and communication practitioners.

SACOMM’s URL is: http://www.ukzn.ac.za/ccms/sacommdraft/misc_info.asp . The acting SACOMM President is Prof. Kenyan Tomaselli (UKZN) and e-mail is ndlelan1@ukzn.ac.za

The Purpose of the Workshop

The time has come for all responsible academics to join hands to address what is clearly one of the greatest crises in the world today. In the words of Prof Martin Prozesky (Director, Unilever Ethics Centre, University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg) : “ The sheer magnitude of the pandemic and its appallingly tragic human costs are deeply painful realities to confront, above all for young people whose generation is so directly involved. But universities are in the truth business, even when the truth is as unwelcome as hearing that HIV/AIDS is the worst medical disaster ever to strike humanity and a national emergency, that it is already radically changing the profile of our population, and leading to vastly increased numbers of young orphans with virtually nobody to care and provide for them, to mention just these grim facts.” Acknowledgements On behalf of SACOMM and the University of Zululand we would like to thank UNISA for hosting this workshop and Prof Pieter Fourie of UNISA’s Communication Department for his gracious hospitality and encouragement of this venture. A word of thanks goes to all speakers and to all the delegates who made the effort to attend. Drs Volker Hooyberg and Lincoln Michell (Convenors)

Programme

Day One

Friday 4 November

8.00 – 9.00 : Registration and coffee

9.00 : Welcome and Opening: Prof Pieter Fourie (Host)

Dr Volker Hooyberg (Convenor)

9.15 -10.30 : Chair : Dr Lincoln Michell

Responding to AIDS in the workplace: Mr Robin Hamilton (Training Manager, Aurum Health Research)

Discussion

10.30 – 11.00 : Tea

11.00 – 12.30 : Chair : Dr Lincoln Michell

Africa's Orphan Crisis - Is it the Teacher's Concern? : Prof Marike de Witt (Faculty of Education, UNISA)

Policy Perspectives : Affirming Negative Status : Dr Volker Hooyberg (University of Zululand)

12.30 – 1.30 : Lunch

1.30 – 3.00 : Chair : Dr Volker Hooyberg

The role of the church: fighting injustice or shielding stigma? Dr Sunette Pienaar (Heartbeat)

Counselling and Caring: Mrs Welly den Hollander (social worker, McCord Hospital, Durban)

Eastern Religious Perspectives on HIV and AIDS: Dr Michel Clasquin (UNISA)

3-00 – 3-30 : Tea

3.30 – 5.00 : Chair : Dr Lincoln Michell

Student Presentations: Tom Were Okello , Mothae Moletsane (University of Zululand) on HIV – Related , Discrimination and Human Rights Violations in a University Community

Suffering and the Christian : A Philosophical Problem and a Pastoral Response : Rev Godfrey Harold (University of Zululand)

Towards an HIV/AIDS-sensitive curriculum : Prof T S Maluleke (Director of Research UNISA)

5.00 : Close of Day One

Day Two

Saturday 5 November

8.30 – 10.00 : Chair: Dr Volker Hooyberg

Testing and AIDS Treatment Management : Prof Chabikuli (Department of Family Medicine, University of Pretoria)

Theological and ethical challenges of the AIDS crisis: Dr Lincoln Michell (University of Zululand);

Transformation through Crisis : A Muslim Perspective : Mr Etsko Schuitema (Schuitema Organisational Transformation Consultancy)

10.00 – 10.30 : Tea

10-30 – 12.00 : Chair : Dr Lincoln Michell

Micro-aspects of HIV/AIDS campaign design as a matter of life and death : Prof P Swanepoel and company (Department of Afrikaans and Theory of Literature, UNISA)

Mainstreaming HIV and AIDS into Academic Programmes: Case Study of UNISA: Mr Leon Roets (Programme Coordinator: Unit for Social Behaviour Studies in HIV/AIDS and Health, UNISA)

Student presentation : Gus Luthuli - A challenge to communicators: HIV/AIDS exposure
among KwaZulu-Natal youth (Masters Student, University of Zululand)

12.00 – 12.30 : Research database : Dr V J Rugbeer (University of Zululand)

Where to from here? Networking and general discussion of value/implications of preceding workshop and mooting of a follow-up workshop (date/venue)

1.30 : Vote of thanks (Dr Michell, co-convenor)