Social Programmes

It can be a daunting task for a museum to figure out what information it should be measuring to figure out its social impact. It’s even a trickier proposition to figure out how to measure that data.

Heritage Trail – On occasions the museum is invited, or organizes, visitors, tourists or schools to walk on the Heritage Trail. It allows much of the history of South End and of forced removals o be related. The Administrator normally takes guests onto the trail. The photo below shows guests being informed at the Bartholomew Dias’ stone.

The Aged – The museum is very much aware of the plight of the aged in the Metro and invites groups from Old Age Homes, or the aged from church organizations, or retirement homes. They are entertained with a breakfast and a gift, but are drawn into a programme called – ‘Searching for Memories’ when they are requested to relate their stories. Interns from the local university or colleges assist by capturing these conversations onto video-camera.

Other programmes include:

Exhibitions: An Exhibition Committee meets regularly to plan the exhibitions required at the museum. Funds are obtained, either from National Lottery, or from the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality.

Archiving: Photographs, documents, and other relevant artefacts reflecting forced removals and South End are stored in the archives and used when necessary

Research: All exhibitions are researched by trained researchers to obtain authenticity with any of the products the museum showcases.

Community-based and outreach programmes: These are achieved with the programme for schools, the aged, and events. However, the Trust wishes to boost the outreach programmes with much more interaction with the communities who were forcibly removed, but there exists a lack of funding.

Reconciliation day: At the end of the year the Trustees, Staff and Volunteers meets up with stakeholders to reconcile a year of projects and programmes. This takes place at various venues and takes place normally in the form of a dinner. The Chairman of the Trust will make a speech and some awards are handed out to deserving individuals.