Sunday, January 11, 2009

1996 - 2nd OSAK DELEGATION - NEW KNOWLEDGE AND AWARENESS CREATION


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ON THIS DELEGATION: Carl Bloom - Town Council Architect, Sven Ake Johannson- ABF and Eva Cnathingius - librarian

Highlights :

1. One delegate's passport was mistakenly left on the plane from Stockholm to London. With no advanced system of communication, the Welcome Committee in Port Shepstone waited anxiously at the Durban airport. Glad, they had arrived the next day.

Communication has really advanced in the last decade.Telephones and faxes were the only link during this period.

2. By now, the interest in Twinning spread like "wild fire". Over 80 participants attended a days workshop on 31 January 1996. The workshop was divided in three specialised fields:

Environmental Issues, Study Circle and Library in Sweden.
The delegates were excellent facilitators. Carl, bringing to our attention the need to be environmentally aware, study circle method was introduced and the third group focused on how a well organised library can be an important resource in a community. During this period, few libraries were based in urban, advantaged communities and none for the majority.

A research study to asses the roll out of basic resources and infrastructure,post democracy is needed.

Johan van der Walt is recognised for his role in arranging this workshop and promoting the twinning concept.

3. Relaxed, Sven Ake, braaing at a farewell function at Pastor John Green's residence. Photo above.

4. Cultural exchange of music and food, gaining momentum with every delegation. It is now part of every delegations programme. g.k

N.B.Programme, attendance register/s and other correspondence are kept in an archive.