Professor De Bryant has moved her psychology classroom to South Africa for the month of June. Bryant and four students are working on several projects in Durban as part of IU South Bend’s Social Action Project (SOCACT). SOCACT uses social science research to understand and apply the mechanics of social change.

The four IU South Bend students are Sherrie Wiegel, Charles Stoner, Julie Reed-Cox and Megan Gushwa. Wiegel and Stoner made the South Africa trip two years ago. This is the first trip for Reed-Cox and Gushwa.

The project, which operates locally in South Bend and Benton Harbor, began in 1999 with the first visit to Durban. In 2000, a group from Durban came to Indiana. The alternating visit pattern continues through next year when the program will be evaluated.

The IU South Bend participants are working and studying with Durban citizens. They are doing research in the fields of art, poetry, morality and religion, and homosexuality and alienation. The IU South Bend students and Bryant are meeting with more than 100 South Africans on the trip.

Locally, SOCACT has been involved in the monthly poetry jam on campus, art projects, gay and lesbian issues, culture and individual morality, homosexuality and alienation.

In Durban, the students arrived with a working plan but they intended to change scheduling and plans if necessary, Bryant said. In the arts, the IUSB students help Durban citizens address social issues. The group will generate a banner that will be used for public education and individual banners that they will keep.

The South Bend students are assisting in poetry jams, focus groups and Umcedo Interim Project, a nonprofit organization that develops creative arts and crafts projects that stimulate and develop skills.

“In the classroom you can talk about social injustice and the scope of apartheid, or access. But it isn’t anything like being there and feeling the day to day problems at a bus stop or with a crowd. These students have passion for social justice. When they return, they will have experienced the human impact and cost,” Bryant said.

The students all work on a grassroots level with their contacts in South Africa, Bryant said. Often the contacts bring in other people and organizations. “This is not glamorous and it doesn’t come in neat sound bytes. It is working with children on art projects or standing in line with someone to get the right documents. Or other times it is talking with a group for hours.”

Bryant has received a number of grants and much community support. Ultimately she would like to have stand-alone funding for the project.

For information about the project or for updates on the Durbin stay, visit the Website at www.iusb.edu/~sbsocact For information about donating to the project, contact Jan Halperin at 237-4801.