Africa

Southern Africa

South Africa

Capetown, South Africa Training

The first Capacitar workshops for grassroots groups in South Africa were held in 2002 in Johannesburg, Durban and KwaZulu/Natal. Under the auspices of the AIDS Consortium, CARE (Community AIDS Response), Ananda Marga Center, Umtapo Peace Center, and the Valley Trust, workshops focused on trauma and on care for caregivers who are working with people with HIV/AIDS. A Capacitar-South Africa coordinating committee was established and a plan was developed for 2003-2006 to train in-country leadership and a Capacitar-South Africa team. NGO status was established in 2007 with a national board.  Capacitar workshops and trainings are currently being offered in different parts of the country.

A Capacitar South Africa Board represents members in Johannesburg, Capetown, Port Elizabeth, KwaZulu Natal, Durban and other regions developing national policy, an outreach team, courses and materials for certification and program outreach.

Read about work against autism in South Africa.

For dates of workshops and trainings see the Capacitar calendar.
For information on Capacitar South Africa contact Felicity Gibbs: capacitarsouthafrica@absamail.co.za
For Cape Town workshops Sharon Johnson: bookingsforafrica@telkomsa.net

Botswana

The first Capacitar workshops were offered in Gaborone in October 2003.  Capacitar currently has NGO status in Botswana with a coordinating team.  AIDS trainings and workshops have been offered in Gaborone, Francistown and other neighboring villages.  An indepth AIDS Caregivers training, funded by the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth was offered in Francistown and Gaborone, in collaboration with the SACBC (Southern African Catholic Bishops Conference) AIDS Office.

For information on workshops contact Pat Huitt, SCN: scnbot@botsnet.bw
or Francoise Horenburg: jfhor@global.bw

Botswana, Swaziland and Lesotho

AIDS Caregivers, Swaziland

As a result of 2002 workshops for African groups working with HIV/AIDS, Capacitar was invited to offer a tour of workshops in October 2003, for organizations and caregivers under the auspices of the AIDS Office of the Southern Africa Catholic Bishops Conference (SACBC). Two-day workshops were held for over 350 AIDS Caregivers representing 120 AIDS hospices and organizations from Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland and six regions of South Africa (Bloemfontein, Capetown, Port Elizabeth, Durban, Pretoria and Johannesburg).

Many of the people dealing with AIDS and caregiving in the region are also affected by unhealed trauma from the years of apartheid. In 2004 Capacitar offered a series of SACBC-sponsored Trauma/AIDS trainings for grassroots AIDS caregivers and professionals in the Southern Africa region. Capacitar Care for Caregivers workshops were offered for groups in Pretoria, Johannesburg, Capetown, Port Elizabeth, Durban, Hlabisa (KZN); Francistown and Gaborone, Botswana; Maseru, Lesotho; and Manzini, Swaziland.

A manual and support materials were developed for grassroots groups - Living in Wellness: A Capacitar Manual for Families, Caregivers, Youth and People with HIV/AIDS.

For information contact: program@capacitar.org

East Africa

Tanzania
Trauma Training in Tanzania

Trauma Training in Tanzania

Capacitar Tanzania came into being after a three-day workshop in Mwanza, Tanzania facilitated by Pat Cane and Mary Litell in August, 2002. Three participants in that workshop, with enthusiastic support of others from Mwanza and Musoma, volunteered to form a coordination group for follow-up, preparation for a four-session training in Trauma Transformation and Healing and funding. This coordination group accompanied participants from various regions of Tanzania. An office and coordinating team were developed for Tanzania to offer workshops for schools, caregivers prisons, religious and teachers. Trainers work with HIV/AIDS patients, caregivers,  families, domestic violence, street children, students in schools, trade centers and single mothers, refugees; clinics; and pastoral work.

Capacitar, P.O. Box 1453, Mwanza, Tanzania
Costancia Mbugoma, Coordinator: mcosi7@gmail.com

Kenya
Workshop in Kakuma Refugee Camp, Kenya

Workshop in Kakuma Refugee Camp, Kenya

Tai Chi in Kibera Settlement, Nairobi, Kenya

In Nairobi, Kenya the first Capacitar workshops were offered in 2002 under the auspices of Jesuit Refugee Services, with emphasis on parish-based services for refugees. Training was offered for JRS staff and refugees in Kakuma Refugee Camp. Other Capacitar workshops included a training at the Maryknoll Center House in Nairobi for women from the Sudanese Women's Voice of Peace, young Kenyan peace workers involved with rehabilitation of child victims of violence, those working in local communities, and missionaries; and a workshop for catechists in a Catholic parish located in Kibera, one of Nairobi's largest slums. An in depth training was led  by Mary Litell osf, in 2005 in Arush at the MMM heealing center.  Plans are underway for continued workshops and a second in depth training. Trauma connected to war and displacement, political violence and the local violence that accompanies impoverishment and corruption, as well as HIV/AIDS and women's situations, are priorities for continued work in Kenya.

Africa Great Lakes Region

Rwanda
Igiti cy'ubungingo, a  center for HIV/AIDS and trauma in Butare, Rwanda, hosted the first Capacitar workshops in November 2005, coordinated by Dr. Genevieve van Waesberghe, MMM, and facilitated by Costancia Mbogoma of Tanzania.  In June 2006, Pat Cane and Antoinette Gasibirege, SH, led workshops in Butare and Kigali for over 1000 women and men representing 9 regions of the country.  In 2007-2008, 55 men and women from Rwanda as well as Burundi and Congo DRC, completed the year of training and practicum.  A national committee and team developed, coordinated by Antoinette Gasibirege and the leadership at Igiti cy'ubugingo.  National Team Trainings are being offered, along with cycles of in depth trauma healing training, and outreach to many groups, NGOs and organizations in different parts of the country.  Manuals and materials have been translated into French and Kinyarwandan.

For information contact: Antoinette Gasibirege agasibirege@gmail.com or the
Igiti cy'ubungingo office: Eugénie Ukunzuwe 00 250 531 045 capacitarbutare@yahoo.fr

Burundi
Capacitar trainers offered the first workshops in Bujumbura, Burundi in 2007, coordinated  by Caritas Habonimana, director of FVA/Amade, an organization that works with orphans and HIV/AIDS.  Because of the great interest and needs, an in depth training was offered (2008-2009) led by Genevieve van Waesberghe, MMM, and coordinated by Caritas Habonimana.  Participants represent a cross section of professionals and grassroots in the country.

For information contact: Genevieve van Waesberghe, MMM vanwaesmmm@yahoo.fr
Caritas Habonimana fvsamade@cbinf.com +257 22 214621

West Africa

Nigeria

The first Capacitar workshops were offered by Pat Cane in three regions of Nigeria (Itam, Ibadan, Minna) in February 2008, coordinated by Dr. Felicia Munuoke, MMM, national coordinator of AIDS outreach for the Medical Missionaries of Mary. 

		Nigeria Workshop - Learning Acupressure Points
The workshops focused on AIDS and trauma healing for caregivers, nurses, doctors, religious, teachers and grassroots leaders.  An in depth training is planned for 2009-2010.

Sierra Leone
The first workshops for over 220 men and women were offered by Pat Cane in three regions of Sierra Leone (Makeni, Kenema, and Freetown) in August, 2008, coordinated by Dr. Ann Stevens, SJC, of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Clluny.  Participants included a broad cross section of professionals and grassroots: religious, priests, teachers, social workers, psychologists, persons working with disability (epilepsy, deaf, blind and amputees), HIV counselors, trauma counselors and parish leaders. An in depth training is planned for 2009-2010.