HERO POSTER

To read Masego's Hero Book in pdf. format,  click on the Front Cover ...

Hero Books,

Memory Work

and the Ten Million Memory Project

memory work

A wide range of psycho-social interventions, which seem well suited to address the extraordinary challenges facing so many children and adults made vulnerable by HIV and AIDS, has begun to find a name for itself as MEMORY WORK. Hero Books are a particular kind of memory book.

The deliberate setting up of a safe space in which to contain the telling of a story is a key element of memory work. This space might be a room, or the shade under a tree, or a memory box, or a memory book, or a body map.

In therapeutic contexts, the scope of memory work is not necessarily restricted to the past, its purpose is often to deal with difficulties in the present, and its main orientation often tends towards planning and the future.   

hero books 

A hero book is a document, and a process, in which a child is invited to be the author, illustrator, main character and editor of a book that is designed to give them power over a specific challenge in their life.

 The Hero Book process can be described as one in which groups of children are led through a series of drawing exercises and autobiographical story telling, designed to help them with mastery over specific problems or challenges in their lives.  

At the end of the process, the child will have a hand bound story book of their own making, that heralds and reinforces their hero-survival-resilient qualities.

 What is the theory behind Hero Books?

 Hero books draw heavily on the theory of Narrative Therapy and “externalizing discourses” developed by Michael White and David Epston. There are also strong elements of expressional art and projective drawing in the hero book process.

How can you work with Hero Books?

 Hero books are relatively easy to make and to facilitate. All you need is a child, some paper, a cardboard box that can be cut up to make a cover, a pencil, a piece of string to bind the book.

 Soon you will be able to download the hero book manual, as well as hero book discussion papers and research, from the following websites.

 www.repssi.org

www.10mmp.org

Example of a Hero Book and other possible applications.

Masego’s hero book is in no way representative of all the types of problems facing so many children. The challenges a child might want to take on using a hero book, include behavioural problems, emotional problems and social problems. Behavioural problems might include bedwetting, poor concentration, aggression and bullying. Emotional problems might include depression, sadness, grieving, and anxiety. And social problems might include having to look after the cattle and not be allowed to attend school, or being subjected to abuse in the home.

 This is an example of a hero story of a different kind to Masego’s. Via this poster, Masego and Nelson have become national and international heroes, and hope their stories will inspire other children to find the hero in themselves.

Nelson and Pumla

 This is a story about two heroes, Nelson and Pumla. Nelson used to live with his mother and father. He used to love his mother very much. They used to sing together. She was a very kind person. Unfortunately Nelson’s mother became sick and she died. She would have been very proud to see what a hero Nelson has become.

 After his mother died things became very hard for Nelson at home. There was not enough food and not enough money to send him to school. Everyone was suffering and there were many times that Nelson was beaten.

 One day Nelson took a big big step. He ran away to his school principal Pumla, and told her that he was being abused, and that he could not carry on like that.

 Pumla looked at her school, at the buildings that were only used in the day but not in the night, and at this little brave boy who needed a safe place to stay and a roof over his head.

 She said, you can live in this school.

 At this moment the hero in Nelson met and brought out the hero in Pumla. Pumla transformed her school into a community centre for supporting children.  She and the other teachers started a 7 day feeding programme so that children who didn’t get food at home on weekends could come to school to eat, even on a Saturday and Sunday.  She bought chickens, and Nelson and some other boys looked after them, and enjoyed eating their eggs.  They laid many!

 Now Nelson lives at the school with 6 other children. They are his brothers and sisters now but he has also not forgotten his sister who died.

 To make his sadness smaller and his happiness bigger, Nelson plays soccer.

He also wants to make other children feel better. Nelson has joined a children’s group. They speak to children and teachers in schools educating them about abuse.

 Nelson is a hero because he has the courage to break the silence around abuse and stand up for his rights and for the rights of others.

 A hero is a person who has experienced something bad and beaten it. An expert is someone who knows a lot about something because they have experienced it from the inside out. Nelson is a hero because he stopped the abuse in his life, is preventing others from being abused, and he is an expert on abuse. He can tell you the difference between verbal, physical and sexual abuse, and he can tell you what the Children’s Bill says about abuse.

 It says, “Parents and caregivers are allowed to hit children but not so hard that they leave bruises or marks” and that government must educate parents/ caregivers of other methods to discipline children...”

 He also knows that since 2000 the law has said that teachers are not allowed to hit children. No smacking in schools.

With all his hero qualities, and with the support of amazing people like Pumla, Nelson can look forward to a bright bright future.

 (as retold by Jonathan Morgan and Helen Meintjes)

The Ten Million Memory Project

 The Ten Million Memories Project (10MMP) is a project whose goal it is to scale up and involve children in innovative, replicable and sustainable memory approaches within integrated psycho social programmes.

 Participant organisations comprise a deliberate mix of grass roots organisations, research institutions, faith based organisations, youth and veterans.

 Key participants in the 10MMP include the Regional Psycho Social Support Initiative (REPSSI), the Red Cross, the Salvation Army, Save the Children, University of Cape Town, University of Natal, Madaboutart, South Coast Hospice.

 The 10MMP is owned by no one organisation and our hope is that it will become a pan African people’s movement that will reach at least 10 Million Children across Africa with Memory approaches by 2010.

The broad strategy at this early state includes the development of simple training material, the establishment of pools of regional master trainers & national training teams, media and communications advocacy, the integration of memory work into education, as well as ongoing monitoring and evaluation.

 If you would like to be trained in Hero Books or in Memory work, please contact jonathan@10mmp.org, and we will see if there is a 10MMP accredited trainer nearby.

 Acknowledgments: 

·       MAP (Memory Action Projects) a collaboration involving REPSSI (Regional Psycho Social Support Initiative) and UCT Psychology Department

·       Masego Morgan

·       The Children’s Institute UCT and the Dikwankwetla Heroes - Children in Action

·       Glynis Clacherty