No question to bold at Cresta Shopping Centre

Difficult questions can at times be hard to even pose to those close to you, let alone to a complete stranger.

This is what the organisation, A Stranger Kind (Ask), wanted patrons of Cresta Shopping Centre spend their Sunday doing when they provided a safe space for strangers to sit down with each other to discuss topics where no question would be viewed as ignorant or too difficult to answer.

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Founder and organiser of Ask Madi van Schalkwyk described the organisation as a collective of volunteers who are willing to share aspects of their life stories.

These volunteers will then talk about any part of their life, “We realised that in South Africa we all have something that is different from someone else and we very seldom get the opportunity to meet someone that is different to us. So we created a space where people can not only meet someone they otherwise would not have met, but also have conversations that we are not talking about enough.”

Volunteers are put through training so they understand the principles and methodology of the organisation to then become part of the data base. From then they are told of upcoming events and they can decide should they want to be part in the events.

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Such was the one held at the shopping centre, a commercial space like this one where one can see diversity, inaccessibility and challenges and how this is the sort of space where conversations that promote inclusivity and diversity should be held.

The organisation aims to incite curiosity from the public through the various lists of topics each volunteer will cover.

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“Once someone from the public chooses a topic, they are allocated a one-on-one conversation and for 45mins you are allowed to ask that volunteer anything you want to know. All questions are allowed, even those really difficult ones,” said Van Schalkwyk.

On this particular day, some of the volunteers on hand spoke on topics such as being a domestic abuse survivor, a burn survivor, death doula, black male ballet dancer, and more.

From this experience she hoped people felt they were in a safe space that encouraged them to speak to someone as well as learn something new.

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