Is 21 March just another public holiday or an opportunity to talk about our history?

The 21^st March falls on a Sunday this year, which makes Monday the 22^nd a public holiday.  Our public holidays, while well utilized for rest, recreation, adventure or that long overdue nap, are actually days of remembrance in our own South African story.

South Africa has over 200 000 registered NGOs, many of whom are doing incredible work to meet the needs and address the multiple challenges that our country faces. However, all these NGOs are fighting for the same piece of the pie to stay financially afloat.  It is mind-boggling that we do not address the need for these NGOs to be working with each other – both formal and informal organisations. If we want to have a chance of addressing the bigger challenges facing our country, then we must work out how to work together more effectively.

A new year has begun with hopes and expectations and more Covid restrictions. What a concrete reminder that the Covid-related unpredictability of 2020 continues into 2021. Many of our children celebrate the extended holiday but others are agitated that school and friends are still not accessible. As parents try to navigate childcare, job-seeking or meeting work requirements, with increased economic stress, this can all feel overwhelming!   

November is World Adoption Month.  It’s the month where adoptee voices are centred.  It’s the month where the layers of adoption are peeled back and we have an opportunity to listen, lean in and look at adoption through the lens of adoptees.

It’s October 2020 and there are two months to go until the end of the year and what a year it has been. October is Arise’s birthday month and we celebrate 12 years as an NGO. Twelve years of seeking justice for children, to see them thriving in their families, advocating fiercely to see children in permanent families who are equipped to see the fullness of their children through adoption; and training tirelessly to see other professionals and organisations equipped to understand the importance of thriving families in order to see stronger communities.

“The problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story.”  Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

At Arise we celebrate women’s month by honouring the strong, courageous and fierce women that we serve in our communities. Through our various programmes we have seen heroic women who carry the burdens of society, and their families, on their shoulders; yet they show their strengths by making sacrifices, by their determination to improve their livelihoods and by advocating for their children. These women often go unseen, unheard and are forgotten because of their circumstances.

Openness in Adoption is often thought to reference the nature of contact between adoptees and their biological families but it is about more than just this. Openness references the attitude and way in which families engage with all aspects of adoption: how we talk about adoption, to our children as well as outside of our home; how we engage with the fullness of who our children are – their race, roots and traits which may well reflect their biological families such as a particular interest or aptitude – and how we create space to engage with this. 

Global headlines are currently dominated by race – the death of George Floyd but also the death of Collins Khosa and ten others who died during the initial months of South Africa’s lockdown have all led to a greater awareness of racial injustice. Conversations seem to finally be happening, and they need to continue to happen. These conversations are ones that happen often around Arise’s conference table, and if you have ever attended an Arise workshop addressing Race, Identity and Transracial Adoption, the following should be familiar:

Raising children in a race conscious world requires conscious thought and deliberate action on the part of parents.

We have all been impacted by this pandemic. For some of us it is the burden of working from home while managing crisis schooling, for others it is the worry over lost income and businesses we’ve built up over years. Our frontline families face uncertainty and anxiety as they wait for the approaching wave of patients while for others it is their very physical health that is at stake. We are all in a storm, paddling furiously to keep our heads above the water. We acknowledge this but we know too that we are not all in the same boat.  Our work at Arise as well as continuous ground level research shows us that this pandemic is set to have long-term consequences particularly for the children in our marginalised communities.