A campaign to unify South Africans
In May of 2008, riots occurred in Alexandria, located in northeast Johannesburg. South African citizens attacked migrants, killing two people and injuring many others. This incident spawned further attacks, which spread throughout South Africa. These xenophobic attacks had economic and cultural motivations. Tension is still high and there are strong concerns that further attacks will break out in the near future.
Kgosi Neighbourhood Foundation, the University of Notre Dame, Pellegrino Collaborative and Notre Dame's Center for Social Concerns have joined forces to develop together+, an educational and promotional campaign to reduce fear and build connections and community in neighbourhoods where both South Africans and refugees compete for scant resources.
The campaign centers around the communication of diversity as a positive outcome. Materials include a welcome guide containing information about the citizenship process, and helpful locations for assistance; a curriculum-based children’s story spreading the message of diversity as unity through the personification of flowers native to regions of Africa from which refugees often come; a healthcare rights poster series and reference guide explaining the rights of all South Africans to medical care; and a mural project using the together+ identity to be executed by community members in order to connect them and facilitate unity.
Each projects seeks to ignite positive change and unity in South Africa, one neighbourhood at a time.