Durban plunge members (from left, back row) Charles Stoner, Dé Bryant, professor of psychology, and Sherrie Wiegel; and (from left, front row) Megan Gushwa and Julie Reed-Cox, spent a month in South Africa studying, working and observing.

Bryant, director of IU South Bend’s Social Action Project (SOCACT), said they used social science research to understand and to change real-life problems. The project is designed as a way for students to become involved in a community and to research, understand and apply the mechanics of social change.

The emphasis is to build relationships. SOCACT members ask what community members need, and a project develops out of those needs. Ultimately, the community decides and makes the changes. “Our goal is to be seen, to collaborate and to make ourselves useful” by giving suggestions, Bryant said.

The students, Sherrie Wiegel, Charles Stoner, Julie Reed-Cox and Megan Gushwa, along with Bryant, jumped into working with the following three very diverse groups in Durban: the Umcebo Trust, which is developing goods for sale to benefit the physically and mentally disabled; Nowadayz Poets, which opens the door to political discussions through poetry; and Arts for Humanities, which uses art as a tool for social change.

This was the third visit for SOCACT members. And this was an especially interesting year because it was the 10th anniversary of the end of apartheid. “We saw change” yet there are still problems with unemployment and representation, Bryant said. “But there is more optimism.”

The “urban Durban plunge” was “a great learning experience, and it was a chance to experience a different culture,” said SOCACT member Reed-Cox. She relished the collaboration and recommended a work project like this to everyone who gets a chance to participate. “To me, it gave me a focus to my life and (understanding of my need) to work with people.”