Special Reports by David Werner
Recent editions of our Newsletters include
abridged versions of these reports.

 

Indonesia, January 2008

HEALTH IN HARMONY
A PROGRAM IN BORNEO THAT LINKS
COMMUNITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH

In November 2007 I had the opportunity to visit Health in Harmony, an innovative new program in a remote area of West Kalimantan, on the island of Borneo. This pioneering program is crucially relevant to our imperilled times because it strives to address, in an integrated participatory way: 1) the pressing health needs of the local villagers and 2) the environmental protection of endangered tropical forests. In a holistic
manner, it combines community-based health care with the overarching issues of deforestation, global warming, and the conservation of the intricate balance of life.

In the words of the program founder, Kinari Webb, “Health in Harmony is inspired by the recognition that global health for all depends on linking human and environmental health at the local level.”

 

South Africa, February—March 2007

SOUTH AFRICA’S UPHILL BATTLE FOR EQUITY AND HEALTH
A report by David Werner on workshops facilitated with the
Western Cape Association for Persons with Disability

For three weeks in February and March 2002 David Werner visited South Africa at the invitation of the Western Cape Association for Persons with Disability (WC-APD). During his 3-week visit he facilitated a
series of seminars and workshops on Community Based Rehabilitation, first in the city of Cape Town, then in outlying areas in the Western Cape Province. David had an opportunity to visit the homes of some of the people with disabilities assisted by APD, and witnessed the grinding poverty and powerlessness that still oppress the majority of South Africans, despite the celebrated liberation from the apartheid regime that was achieved, after some years of negotiating, by the democratic elections in 1994. Here David describes the continuing socioeconomic polarization in South Africa, and the challenges it creates for those striving for rights and opportunities of people with disabilities.

 

Morelia, Michoacan, Mexico, December 2006

"Child-to-Child" with disabled and non-disabled children
in Michoacán, Mexico:
An effort to make schooling more inclusive and enabling

The state's Department of Education—in the brief window of opportunity opened by the current progressive governor Lázaro Cárdenas—is striving to "contextualize" public education to local culture and needs. Toward the goal of "Educational Reform," an international Congress on Education and Culture was held in December 2006 in the state capital, Morelia. David Werner, as a keynote speaker, shared experiences using a "Child-to-Child" approach both to facilitate the inclusion of children with special needs, and to make schooling more enabling for all children. This stimulated so much debate that Professor Juan Hurtado, Director of the Technical Educational Consultancy (CEE) for the State Dept. of Education, asked David to lead a workshop in March (2007) on "ways to make education more inclusive, relevant, and fun." The aim was to train a core team of teachers and educators as "multipliers" who could adapt the Child-to-Child methodology to local needs and then progressively scale up the process across the state. In this report, David describes the workshop, its evaluation by those who participated in it, and prospects for implementing these ideas on a larger scale.