So I took my first ride in the back of a South African police car...

Today was interesting, to say the least... :)

A bunch of Sonke staff headed out to Kraaifontein to partake in a training session with the police. We got off the train and had no idea where the police station was. Luckily for us, a police truck just happened to be driving by and were more than happy to lock us up in the back and take us there. I think I may have been the happiest person ever to sit in that exact seat.

I wasn't sure what the day was meant to entail, but whatever I was expecting was definitely not what I got. The day was kind of a gender equality/sexual awareness training day for the police by Sonke staff. I did realize that the way of thinking here is different from what I am used to, yet today was still a little surprising for me.

People don't really seem to have much of an idea of what "gender equality" even means, or what it is meant to mean. Men here are quite "macho" and are socialized to see themselves as the protectors and not to help out with anything related to their families because it just is not their place. Affirmative action is accepted her in terms of race, but people don't seem to see it as a reasonable or even a necessary option in relation to gender. One woman compared the way she looks at her husband to the way she looks at God. Another woman compared men to dogs and said that women are at fault if their husbands cheat because they are not "keeping the dog fed."

We also discussed the recent statement/policy of the police commisioner here - shoot to kill. This brought up a really interesting debate from people on both sides. It also brought up a lot of discussion about South African society in general - "the language we know in this country is violence." We talked about how it is normalized here, and how people continue to use violence because it has proven to be an effective way of being heard in this country.

The last part of the session was a kind of "sex ed" session that was roughly equivalent to what we are taught in Canada in about grade 6. It was shocking to me that this is something that needs to be taught to middle aged adults.

Tomorrow, we are off to Atlantis to launch the new Sonke Red Card Campaign. Definitely not a dull week.