Barbara Miller: A Champion of Social Activism
Barbara Miller is a social activist, pursuer of human rights, and a deep, considered thinker. She was the founding Executive Director of the Cape Town branch of Africa Tikkun for 12 years. Afrika Tikkun is a non-profit organization dedicated to the reduction of youth unemployment in South Africa. Presently, Barbara continues to invest in her passion for community development as a senior fundraiser at Ikamva Labantu, an NGO which had its genesis in apartheid South Africa. Ikamva Labantu focuses on early childhood development, the well-being of older persons, and after-school initiatives that keep children safe and off the streets.
Rotary’s Community Mediation Initiative
In 2020, a group of Rotarians from District 9350, District 9370, and District 9400 took the initiative to establish the African Rotary Community Mediation (ARCoM) Vocational Training Team (VTT) Global Grant. The aim was to train 100 community mediators to work in communities in the three districts. From January 2021, a multi-disciplinary Vocational Training Team (VTT) would complement the skills training to lay the theoretical and philosophical foundation for the cohort of Rotary mediators consisting of 30 Rotarians and 70 non-Rotarians. African Rotary Community Mediation (ARCoM) project has partnered with MBBI and Academics to provide a platform to establish a conflict prevention community mediation initiative which involves Rotarians and Non-Rotarians to deepen Rotary’s peace building work within and between communities. Mediation Beyond Borders International (MBBI) a standing partner of Rotary International, who will not only provide the skills training but also provide international accreditation to all successful candidates.
Barbara Miller’s Involvement in ARCoM Training
Our club nominated Barbara Miller to participate in the training, and she is today’s guest speaker. Barbara Miller participated in the first cohort of the Rotary ARCoM program on the recommendation of Janet Kriseman, and what an incredible nominee Barbara has been. As you can tell, community development and paying it forward are integral to her life and values.
Barbara’s Impact Through Community Mediation
In today’s talk, Barbara informed the club about what Community Mediation is all about and how she has used the skills since the ARCoM training, which has been impactful and meaningful. The first was teaching conflict resolution skills to the community-based workers at Ikamva Labantu. The next was mediating between community leaders in a community organization and also facilitating a conflict resolution process in Delft. Barbara has served Rotary by supporting the training of ECD owners on the Langa ECD Project. Barbara mentioned that one of the great things about ARCoM was the ongoing sense of community between the graduates so much so that she together with Alan Jackson, a Rotarian from Wynberg, developed a program called “Dialogues in Race” within and between faith communities in the Cape. This project was so intriguing that Prof Veldhuizen, a Rotarian from D9400 and an academic at Unisa, invited Barbara and Alan to contribute a chapter to his book. It is titled “Faith-based Social Justice, social cohesion and National Reconciliation: Overcoming racist tensions in the Western Cape Province of South Africa” and the publication is Transcending From Conflict to Peace: Violence Prevention and Management Through Community Mediation in South Africa. Barbara appealed to Rotarians to call on the skills of the ARCoM graduates in their community projects.
Conclusion: Collaboration for Impact
This project demonstrated what Rotary does best, collaboration! Thanks to Siham Boda for the introduction and for transcribing Barbara’s talk.