Memory Box Programme

This initiative draws on face-to-face communication to foster two types of interpersonal interventions: family visits and children's groups. These interventions are designed to result in the creation of a memory box, which “rests on the hypothesis that it is good for the child to know his family history, however painful this might be, on condition that this history is recounted in a warm, nonjudgmental setting. If the children know the history of their parents, they are better able to overcome the suffering caused by their illness or death. They access this knowledge through memory, their own and of those close to them.”

Specifically, the programme's 'memory facilitators' encourage parents or caregivers who are suffering from AIDS to tell the history of the family in the presence of their children as a way of facilitating the bereavement process of the children. The methodology of oral history is used for collecting the family's memories. Transcripts of conversations in Zulu are edited and compiled into a booklet that accompanies an audiotape of all the voices. These materials are presented to the interviewed family and placed in a "memory box" created by the children with the help of memory facilitators.

To complement the work done with the families, the memory facilitators organise children's groups with the assistance of their partner organisations. Ten to 12 children of similar ages, usually orphans, attend 12 two-hour-long sessions after school. Basic play therapy techniques are used. Special emphasis is placed on life stories, family trees and bereavement narratives. During the sessions, the children create memory boxes which they fill with various artefacts.

To facilitate this work, the project also trains various non-governmental organisations (NGOs), faith based organisations (FBOs) and community-based organisations (CBOs) in the methodology of the memory boxes. This training has three components. First, the memory facilitators run training workshops with the staff and volunteers of the partner organisations. The sessions usually last for four days. They are followed by one or several evaluation meetings. At a later stage, the memory facilitators assist the trainees in conducting family visits. They also show them how to facilitate children's groups.

Organisers are also engaged in efforts to create, revise and test various manuals outlining the methodology of the memory boxes in English and in Zulu. Some of these manuals are accessible on the Sinomlando Centre for Oral History and Memory Work in Africa website.

Children, HIV/AIDS.

The Memory Box Programme draws inspiration from the Humuliza Project, an AIDS orphans support programme in Tanzania.

In 2005, a book was published that describes the memory box methodology: "Never Too Small to Remember: Memory Work and Resilience in Times of AIDS", edited by Philippe Denis (Pietermaritzburg, Cluster Publications). Enquiries: cluster@futurenet.co.za