Charles L. Frankel - Charles L. Frankel is principal of Frankel International Development Organization. He earlier was senior consultant to CIVICUS, a global NGO, and president of the International Development Conference.
Prior to that, he was director of community support for the InterPacific Group (1987-94). He has had extensive experience as an entrepreneur and manager in private, public and non-profit enterprises, as well as significant involvement in community development in the United States and abroad.
A member of the Bretton Woods Committee, Mr. Frankel serves as Chair of the Board of the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the World Affairs Council of Northern California and National Peace Corps Association and Board of Advisors of the Goldman School of Public Policy, University of California. Mr. Frankel is the Honorary Consul for the Republic of Botswana.
Jonny Steinberg - Jonny Steinberg was born and bred in South Africa. His previous two books, Midlands (2002) and The Number (2004) both won South Africa's premier nonfiction literary award, the Sunday Times Alan Paton Prize. Steinberg was educated at Wits University in Johannesburg, and at Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar. He has worked as a journalist at a national daily, written scripts for television drama, and has been a consultant to the South African government on criminal justice policy.
AIDS in South Africa: Fighting Stigma, Superstitions and Cultural Misunderstandings with Jonny Steinberg.
At the heart of South Africa’s AIDS crisis lays not only a medical obstacle but a cultural one as well. Jonny Steinberg, author of Sizwe's Test, traces the inner struggles and the mixed feelings of shame, pride, and stubborn hope associated with those infected by HIV.
Offering a window onto the complex set of realities, Steinberg asks why would a successful man who lives within walking distance of treatment refuse to be tested for HIV? His exploration reveals the superstitions, stigmas, and rampant cultural misunderstandings - between Western medicine and African healing traditions - that hinder the efforts to combat the spread of AIDS.
Steinberg will join the Council to explore the perspectives of those who are infected, those who are trying to help, and those who reject any help offered to them- World Affairs Council of Northern California