Connecting Conversations is a really unique programme that will challenge pre-conceptions and stereotypes in a fun, personal and soulful way.

Learners who attend the programme will deepen their own understanding of the complexities of diversity by listening to extraordinary speakers who have embraced diversity in various ways in their own lives. By doing this we deliberately move away from generalisations and stereotypes created around culture.

The three main cornerstones of the programme are:

Awareness - Becoming aware of self and the other person, with everything that makes them different from you.

Understanding - Your own personality, values, beliefs, strengths, weaknesses and ways of dealing with conflict.

Respect - Understanding why you and the other person communicate and interact the way you do which allows you to manage your attitude and leads to respect.

On the Connecting Conversations programme learners will go to historical South African sites and meet speakers who have particularly diverse (or non-stereotypical) backgrounds such as Lionel Davis, Matthew Ribnick, Noria Mabasa and more, who will share their stories, and will be able to part-take in discussions with them.

To quote Tracy Scott, one of our amazing trainers, who runs the programme; “If we want to understand a culture it means we want to understand ideas, beliefs and values which are different from our own. If we want to escape the stereotypes we need to understand that culture is complex, as complex as each individual in that culture and that it is only when we allow real people to share who they are with us (to let their life story intersect with our own life story) that we start to see the threads that are common to all of us and to see the differences as richness.”

If you’d like to take part in this special programme or have any questions, please contact Gill.