Presenters: Winnie Lo, Isaac Yoryor , May Marr, Gary Dumbrill
This two part workshop will begin with an exploration of how churches can use participatory social action in the form of photovoice to seek peace and justice. The second part of the session will be the result of such an initiative exploring the impact of Canadian child welfare policies on refugee parents.
Christians must, “seek justice, encourage the oppressed” (Isaiah 1:17) and “speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves” (Proverbs 31:8). This session explores how to do this through social action, which is a means of not only speaking “for” the oppressed, but helping them to speak for themselves. We briefly describe the theory of social action as well as its biblical basis, and we examine two ways of approaching this work, “Participatory Action Research” and “Photovoice.” We show how these methods can be used by churches and we give a practical example of a project in which Hamilton refugees came together to tell in photographs and words how Canadian child welfare policy impact their children and families. We show how the refugees who participated in this project have consolidated their stories into messages that are now being delivered to child welfare policy makers and social workers. This workshop runs alongside a Photovoice exhibit that explains the social justice issues raised by refugees.
