LAND OF HOPE

Milton Mphangwa is a Facing the Past teacher. He teaches history at a school in the Western Cape Province of South Africa.  His history course uses Holocaust and Human Behavior as a foundational case study, and then moves into a study of South Africa’s history of apartheid.  Milton has created a project about anti-refugee and immigrant violence that has plagued the country, including the school’s area.  His students will interview local people, including refugees and local government people.

Land of  Hope is a short film about  how Milton together with his students started to educate themselves and others about xenophobia and brought change in their community.

One of the most important aspects of a flourishing democracy is an active, tolerant citizen body.

Facing the Past – Transforming Our Future is Shikaya’s core project, in collaboration with Facing History and Ourselves and the Western Cape Education Department, and aims to cultivate students’ awareness of the ways that society is shaped by the choices of individuals, and the role that they can play in the creation of a culture that values human rights, diversity and peace.

By examining case studies from Nazi Germany and apartheid, students are exposed to questions of identity, diversity versus exclusion, apathy versus activism, and are empowered to contribute towards building a more compassionate South Africa. As its content may be adapted for the specific teaching material, the approach is relevant for History, English and Life Orientation classes. By training over 250 teachers in the last eight years, the impact of Facing the Past has reached over 16 000 students.

Facing the Past is based on and supported by the work of Facing History and Ourselves.