15 & 16 May 2008

Gender DynamiX and Triangle Project decided to embark on a joint venture in delivering services to trans people in the Western Cape.  This took the form of a transgender retreat – a weekend long personal growth workshop. Advertisements for participation were placed in the Pink Tongue news paper. People attended the workshop from as far as Grahamstown and Vredendal. Ronald Addinall, who volunteers his professional services regularly to Triangle Project and works with Gender DynamiX, was the facilitator.

In response we received this in a letter from one of the participants: “I have a better grasp of my self-worth and identity as well the knowledge that if I present myself as I really am and let the inner true self out all will become easier and that half the fears are within one’s self. The freedom that I felt and the empowerment it gave me gave me strength to more on in transitioning.”

Fourteen participants attended and we are definitely looking forward to have this workshop as an annual event on our calendars.

25 – 29 February 2008

The Coalition of African Lesbians (CAL) is a network of organisations committed to African lesbian equality and visibility. CAL is the first non governmental organization in Africa to work on the equality of lesbian women at a continental level.

During this weeklong Leadership Institute two of Gender DynamiX staff members had the opportunity to engage in dialogue and discussions with more than 75 of the continent’s LBT activists. The conference received International media coverage and was reported in many mainstream media.

There was also an opportunity to address transgender issues and healthy discussions and debate took place. Quite a number of trans activists from various countries (Namibia, Botswana, Uganda, Nigeria and South Africa) were present.

1 December 2007

Gender DynamiX has grown into an NGO which recognizes its responsibilities in the community. One of these is to have an annual AGM. This is the where the Management Committee reports back to its people, sharing all its activities. This year we combined it with our Office Inauguration, as we have recently (finally) moved to our office space in Athlone at the Saartjie Baartman Centre. On a high note, everyone heard about all the accomplishments of Gender DynamiX for the past year and we also celebrated the opening of the new office with some bubbly.

18 November 2007

Although TDOR is internationally commemorated on the 20th of November, the Good Hope Metropolitan Community Church (GHMCC ) and Gender DynamiX held a special service on Sunday 18 November.  This was the 9th annual Trans Day of Remembrance, a day set aside as a day for remembering those who have endured transphobia and hate crimes. True to the nature of TDOR ceremonies we also had a candle lighting ritual, and also highlighted some of the past year’s transphobia-related hate crimes.

16 November 2007

During this third Gender Diversity Awareness seminar guests had the opportunity to hear some of the many challenges and complexities trans people deal with in their daily lives. One of the participants who shared her life experience story, is a refugee from Uganda, while another participant told us about her medical procedures in Thailand. The 3rd participant told us about his journey of over 10 years as a transman and the last participant reflected on the changes she is going through and how her transition required some activism from her side to educate her employer.

16 – 20 May 2007

Gender DynamiX held its first strategic planning workshop, with the Management Committee and 16 other stakeholders attending this 4 day workshop. The overall purpose of this workshop was to plan the projects and activities of GDX for the next 3 years. By having as many trans people as possible attending the strategic planning workshop Gender DynamiX  therefore had a written mandate supporting its work.
Most of the participants met each other for the first time during this strategic planning workshop, and some even met other trans people for the first time. The whole experience was a positive and uplifting one and everyone is looking forward to the future of Gender DynamiX.

Read full report here [Please note that this is quite a large file and may take some time to download ]

The ILGA (International Gay and Lesbian Association) Africa conference took place in Johannesburg, 5 – 8 May 2007 and was attended by 60 people from 15 African countries. There were representatives from Algeria, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Botswana, South Africa, Senegal, Cameroon, Nigeria, Mozambique, Tanzania, Ghana and Morocco.

The conference started on a very sad note, as one of the proposed participants for the conference was on the ill fated airplane from Cameroon crashed with no survivors.

The conference stretched over 4 days and it consisted of a packed program with lots of workshops and training sessions. Gender DynamiX had two opportunities to do presentations. The one presentation was under the topic Gender based violence and the second presentation was under the topic Imbalances that polarize gender related inequalities.