An outreach project, where researchers were meant to teach the community about health and science, turned out to be a valuable lesson for scientists who learned about the lives and challenges of the communities they aim to serve through their research.

"Both groups learnt from each other – the community were taught about health and how to look after themselves and their families; and the scientists were given a valuable glimpse into the community, which made us reflect about the research we do," said Prof Hans Strijdom, who heads the Cardiovascular Research Group in the Division of Medical Physiology that took part in the outreach project.

The project was initiated by the Sustainable Livelihoods Foundation (SLF) and aimed to bring communities and scientists together around the theme of cardiovascular disease – from there the project name: Heart of the Matter.

"As researchers, we work in our labs, process data, publish articles and present it at conferences. We only see the data, but we know nothing about the people behind the data. This project gave us the opportunity to hear some of their stories," Strijdom explained.

The project entailed participants from the impoverished community of Delft, on the Cape Flats, to tell their stories through photos and videos about people and things related to health in their daily lives.

A group of 13 adults were given basic photographic training, and provided with cameras with which to capture images from their daily lives. The photos were then presented to the project coordinators and scientists who gave feedback and advice aimed at improving the health of participants and their families. The images and stories were also published in a book.

"Some of the stories were real eye-openers, and we realised that the participants live in a different world than the one we are used to. Not all the stories are tragic and sad, and I was really impressed with the creative ideas of some of the people came up with to feed themselves and their families," said Strijdom.

The participants also had the opportunity to quiz the scientists about health and diseases. "It was an amazing experience!" said Strijdom.

The second group consisted of 10 young people who were trained in videography and video editing, who were given video cameras to document their daily lives. The youngsters then made a film of the footage they took.

The Cardiovascular Research Group hosted the group on campus for a week where they were taken on a tour of some of the laboratories as well as the Morphology Museum, witnessed experiments, and were educated in science and research.

"Prof Strijdom and the five members of his research group who participated in the Heart of the Matter project gave an outstanding example of how scientists can become involved in community engagement initiatives," said SLF director Dr Gill Black.

"They provided a crucial contribution to the knowledge exchange process by playing an interactive role in a series of participatory workshops. Using visually engaging posters that they prepared especially for the project and inviting the Delft participants to visit their research lab, the scientific team provided basic but much needed information about what heart disease is, what causes it, ways in which it can be prevented and how it is being investigated by medical science.

"By taking the time to reflect upon and respond to the photobook and short film produced by the participants, Strijdom's team also experienced a first hand and grounded account of factors that are driving the heart-disease epidemic in urban South Africa and how it is affecting people's everyday lives," said Black.

Photo: Professor Hans Strijdom and Dr Nyiko Mashele interacting with members of the Delft Health Ambassadors: Fatima Petersen (front left), Koolsum Ismail (right), and Priscilla Mcentee (far right) during a drama workshop in Delft public library. On the left is Kauthar Stegmann.