Campus Update
(October
27, 2006)
2006 Summer Study to Africa
 |
|
|
The 2006 Summer Study to Africa distributed handmade quilts in South Africa and Swaziland. |
|
Nine University at Albany students, faculty, and community members traveled to South Africa and Swaziland in mid-July with the Summer Study Tour of the U.S.-African Partnership for Building Stronger Communities Project. They visited Johannesburg, Zululand, Cape Town, and Swaziland, where they met with local families, orphans, church members, and social welfare students. The group distributed handmade quilts to households in South Africa and Swaziland in which both parents have died of AIDS.
A focus group meeting was held on child-headed households at the University of Zululand and on HIV/AIDS at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. Participants on the Summer Study Tour, which is part of a three-credit elective offered by the School of Social Welfare, also met with two provincial offices of social welfare in South Africa, and visited Swaziland for two days with the support of faculty from the University of Zululand. Since 2000, more than 80 people have participated in the tours, which were initiated by Distinguished Service Professor and Professor Emerita of Social Welfare Shirley J. Jones in 1999 to increase recruitment and retention of African students, counter negative media images of Africa, and give UAlbany students and faculty the chance to learn more about African cultures. The program is a UAlbany School of Social Welfare global partnership.
