Fantastic Collaboration, Fantastic Deliverables
Bonnie Sepora’s practicum with RISE is coming to an end. Bonnie is a public health lecturer at at the Institute of Development Management in Gaborone, Botswana, and founder and director of Friends of Diversity. They worked with RISE as part of their Community Solutions Program Fellowship; CSP is a U.S. State Department program.
Over the past 8 weeks Bonnie and Cindi Huss, RISE managing director, have learned from each other about approaches to communication, legislative change, and litigation as they relate to sex ed and LGBTQ+ issues in Botswana and the United States.
Cindi connected Bonnie with activists and organizers in the Tri-Cities area, including John Baker (Pride Community & Education Center), Kavita MacDonald-Strong (AIDS Healthcare Foundation), and Aislinn Bailey (president, Tri-Cities Transgender). These meetings were great opportunities to share information and strategies and build relationships.
Bonnie and Cindi still hope to meet with Chris Sanders of the Tennessee Equality Project and a representative of Nashville’s LGBT Chamber.
First social media graphic Cindi developed from Bonnie’s documentary.
During their fellowship, Bonnie developed, shot, and produced a short video documentary featuring the stigma and discrimination LGBTIQ people face in Botswana—and they found that the situation in Tennessee is not terribly different. Cindi and Bonnie continue working together to develop a series of social media images around ideas that emerged from the documentary.
Bonnie also made great progress on developing a network of primary informants to contribute to the policy brief that is their Community Solutions final project. They are promoting legislation that would allow transgender and intersex people to change the gender markers on official government documents.
During Bonnie’s fellowship, the Court of Appeals in Botswana (similar to the U.S. Supreme Court) heard arguments about a case Bonnie has been involved in to decriminalize same-sex relations. Bonnie recently gave a television interview about this hearing—their segment begins at 8:33. UPDATE: The Court of Appeals in Botswana (like our Supreme Court in the U.S.) rejected the government’s appeal, effectively decriminalizing homosexuality and same-gender sexual behavior in Botswana. Congrats, Bonnie! You can see more about the ruling here: https://fb.watch/9DsqT5wx26/
Early on Bonnie and Cindi spoke about the need to change the narrative around sex ed and LGBTQ+ issues. To engage our most active opponents, sometimes we use language that doesn’t immediately create a knee-jerk reaction, though it still encompasses all the rights and ideas it is important to convey. Cindi created a survey that will be released soon via social media to examine the actual needs and desires around sex ed for students, parents, and community members in our area as well as how the words we use affect the answers we get. Stay tuned for the release!
Bonnie also offered a free community "Assertiveness for Changemakers" workshop where they shared skills they have honed to control stress and anger and improve listening skills to more effectively engage opponents and serve their community.
This workshop was recorded and is available for anyone who would like to view it.
RISE: Healthy for Life would like to thank IREX, the Community Solutions Program of the U.S. State Department, and, most of all, Bonnie Sepora for a rewarding and enriching experience.