The lower case i in SHiNE, according to Chohan, "stands for me, myself and I, and the change I can bring". The unfolding of the July unrest marked a dark period in the country's democracy, which still required more work for it to be considered complete, Chohan explained. Her eightmonth trip across the country, speaking with unrest affected individuals, government agencies and religious groups helped form the basis of the SHiNE concept. She said something was missing in South Africans, something that was not instilled after the fall of the apartheid regime. "After apartheid, we had all of these organisations like the Public Protector and the SA Human Rights Commission set up and those are great because we did not have that before. But these organisations are the scaffolding of society, they are the hardware," Chohan said. "We did not upgrade South Africa's software after apartheid. We transitioned to democracy and equality, but the reality is that we are the same people and we have the same habits. "The violence, the hate speech, these are all habits we carried with us. People expect this change to come from the top, from the government, but it does not, it starts at home," she said. Chohan said people needed to treat their homes as sanctuaries, so they could go to peace after a stressful day, which is something everyone has to go through, regardless of race and social status. This is where the SHiNE project comes in, to help unpack sometimes awkward conversations at home that can lead to great societal problems, like bullying, gender discrimination and during the events of July 2021, racial discrimination. The three main pillars of the project include identifying one negative thing about yourself that you would like to change or "selfreflection". The second part would be discussing this negative thing with your family or even friends and how you could go about changing it. Chohan said the Commission curated the idea of a "family meeting" from the Presidency, when Cyril Ramaphosa would deliver updates during the Covid19 pandemic. The third pillar is to actively pursue knowledge of another culture to bridge gaps in society. Chohan said she tried the project out in her own home and found something about herself that she didn't know was negative. "My daughter told me that sometimes I can be very professional when giving a task. That I can come across as too serious or seem like an angry mother. This was an eyeopener for me because I was not cognisant of this," Chohan said. "Like that, we want people to engage with each other in their homes and workplaces to better understand each other. If we share personal stories with each other, we can find commonalities. "We find that in South Africa, the workplaces are the best location where multiple race groups meet and converse," she said. The SHiNE project was being developed in tandem with the SAHRC's investigation into the unrest and was rolled out in September 2022, during Heritage month, at a national level. Last year, the Commission presented it provincially and took the SHiNE to all corners of South Africa. "The crowds that attended were small, but they were intimate and discussions more meaningful. It was not some loud event, people really broke down and even cried," Chohan said. "This year, we plan to take SHiNE to schools in all provinces, to reach children at an institutional level."

Source: Daily News