Stories from the Field

Men As Partners® Digital Stories - South Africa
During its second decade of democracy, South Africa faces two interconnected epidemics—gender-based violence and HIV and AIDS. Spurred by the need to respond to these public health emergencies and recognizing the centrality of working with young and adult men to make progress, EngenderHealth initiated the Men As Partners (MAP) Program in 1998. Since then, dozens of organizations across South Africa have joined together to form the MAP Network, to exchange ideas, support each other's efforts, and be a collective national voice.

In July 2005, the USA-based Center for Digital Storytelling's (CDS) Silence Speaks  project conducted two digital storytelling workshops with staff and volunteers from the MAP Network in South Africa. This resulted in a collection of first-person narratives by the participants--stories of survival related to various forms of injustice and pain, as well as stories of their transformation into becoming gender activists. These storytellers want to share their stories with others to bring about change. We invite you to view a selection of these stories using the links below, via YouTube. For the complete set of digital stories, please visit www.engenderhealth.org

Manhood/Fatherhood
1. Andre
2. Nkonzo 3. Dumisani
Gender-based Violence
1. Juliana 2. Paul 3. Thoko

HIV and AIDS
1. Bonile
2. Azola 3. Jason