5.3 Support groups functioning as a community of practice
5.3.7 Sense of belonging
Sense of belonging is defined as the experience of personal involvement in a system or environment so that persons feel they are an integral part of that system or environment (Cherkowski, Walker & Kutsyuruba, 2015). Usually this sense is built after several incidences of members’ compliance to perform duties indicating their full involvement, ethical decision making and participation. Sharing responsibilities is a crucial aspect to enhance participation and
114 boost a sense of belonging in the support groups. One way to do this is for information gathered from friends and families to be shared among the members of the group, which reinforces their learning. These interactions enabled the groups to commit themselves to each other and strengthen their sense of belonging to each other. This was very evident during the discussions on topics like multiple and concurrent sexual partners’ reduction where all members took part and the duration of the meeting was extended because members felt they needed to execute all points and allow all members to contribute.
Lambert, Stillman, Hicks, Kamble, Baumeister and Fincham (2013) argue that individuals feel a sense of belonging when they can appreciate the depth of their social relationship and connectedness to others. Bonding with other people can enhance happiness and contribute to a meaningful life.
In the support groups information gathered from friends and families was shared among the members of the group, which reinforced their learning. A sense of belonging therefore influenced identity building for these members.
Different Modes of Belonging
Wenger (1998) discussed three modes of belonging in communities of practice which evolve sequentially as follows: a) engagement b) imagination and c) alignment. Wenger says in a normal situation, members first need to be engaged to prove their membership, then imagination comes as a result of the manner in which one got engaged and can imagine one’s level of involvement in certain activities. This in turn enables one to align and gain strength to work harder for the benefit of the group. In the communities of practice as operated by these three support groups, the three modes of belonging reinforced their self-directed learning process which was embraced with increasing competence and confidence. For example, one could see an element of competence in running a meeting as a chairperson or taking minutes for the day and people showed confidence in sharing how they operated. By the end of the observation period (six months), all these groups demonstrated the existence of three modes of belonging to their different support groups as outlined by Wenger (1998).
115 As the first mode of belonging, engagement became crystalised when the support group members were engaging with other members and the rest of the community. This was where all the three support group members were participative and doing activities intended to provide the groups with knowledge to enhance their learning sessions. An example of this relationship that crystalises member’s engagement is seen when Rocky, a male in his late forties in fathers-to- fathers support group, encouraged members to continue requesting information from organisations relating to their topic. Therefore, he tried to direct the support group to meet government ministries which might contribute to the support group’s learning process. In this way members used their connections and relations as a resource in order to solve their problems quickly, share knowledge and make connections with organisations, all of which indicates a community of practice in action. Rocky emphasised the importance of indicating to new organisations that the group had a good reputation and recognisable relations with other ministries who had previously offered help and he encouraged members to approach new ministries who might be able to open further avenues of communication.
Rocky: World Vision is supporting most of our efforts which are beyond our financial scope because we tackle our problems as a group and they have seen that we never disappoint them. So let us try Ministry of Trade and Development to assist us because our challenge this time is to ensure that our businesses are sustainable. Our letter must indicate all these other organisations which we have good relations with so that they too may not hesitate in helping us through this challenge.
The way in which members engaged with each other while helping a colleague with a problem and their relations with the organisations which gave them some explanations had reached a point of mutual trust. Making connections became an integral part for all the support groups to access information from knowledgeable individuals, groups and ministries. This attitude, too, is aligned with Wenger (2000) who emphasises that engagement is an integral part of communities of practice. Shared activities and problem-solving are core features of such engagement.
The second mode of belonging in communities of practice discussed by Wenger (2000) is imagination. This aspect can also be aligned with identity building (discussed below). It can be illustrated here in the way that these three support groups considered themselves to have gained enough knowledge that allowed them to call themselves ‘male nurses’ in their different
116 communities and be consulted on health issues. They saw themselves using their accumulated knowledge to rescue other community members who may be at risk of getting infection. They imagined a changed identity due to the projects they intended to begin and engender hope for success.
For instance, Lucky from fathers-to-fathers support group imagined how the group was helping others in his community through his identity as a ‘male nurse’.
Lucky: Again, they tend to forget that we did not vote to be HIV infected and may be one day they too will be infected, who knows? By then we will be ‘male nurses’, like my friend used to say, and treating them with the knowledge we are gathering in this SG.
Maybe they are lucky because we hold some public gatherings and give them preventive education to delay their infection, otherwise they could have been infected a long time ago as I know some of them are very careless when it comes to sexual activities.
Imagination went further than identity building. Mr Timber, in a mixed support group, imagined an improved standard of living of the group emanating from the financial contributions made by members to establish a vegetable project. This was seen as a viable income generating activity which could assist the support group to grow and change their lives. He motivated members to establish this vegetable project by constructing a positive imagination of members gaining a good reputation in their area, and who might change neighbours’ perceptions because their hard- work would be addressing unemployment challenges for their community. Mr Timber’s vision was to see members working hard for the success of their project. His deepest aspirations were to see members creating employment for the group and their respective neighbours. Giving this big picture might be enough to motivate the support group members to act.
Mr Timber: When I look at this project, it can take us far, we can change our name automatically from a bunch of HIV infected people to commercial farmers who might soon create jobs and employ even our biggest enemies who are sitting in house shadows and watching our steps (where we are going).
According to Wenger (2000) this imagined role is not just a fantasy but rather indicates reality because these groups had demonstrated that they had gathered the necessary knowledge to respond to community needs and demands relating to HIV and AIDS as well as other health issues. Such initiatives to work together and pass on their knowledge and skills were evident
117 across all three support groups. For instance, Zille, Elderly-man and Mrs Peach, clearly specified their interest in how the groups could enjoy the shared benefits of learning together, and sustain their networks which resulted in collective benefits. When members had constructed a new image for the group in the community, they easily aligned and deeply engaged in their different activities.
The third mode of belonging for Wenger is alignment. The support groups were making sure that their interests were sufficiently aligned with other health processes so that these other health issues could be sufficiently addressed during different health activities and effectively handled even if they were beyond the health provider remit. Therefore, members aligned with other health related matters such as growing vegetables that could be sold. In this aspect, members emphasised the use of fresh vegetables as opposed to preserved ones to maintain good health.
These ideas in turn could promote their vegetable market idea.
For instance, mixed support group announced its intention to produce vegetables on a bigger scale to become commercial farmers. They brainstormed the market opportunities together to ensure they did not keep their produce for a long time. They planned their market strategies together in this business and foresaw it thriving. Wenger (2000) indicates the importance of trust in communities of practice relationships, not just personally, but also in their ability to contribute to the enterprise of the community so that members feel comfortable addressing real problems together and speaking truthfully. This aspect is illustrated by Zille who was certain that their enterprise could prosper through outreach activities. Zille was a business minded male in his early forties.
Zille: Let us take our vegetable produce to the outreaches because many people who gather at the health outreach can buy them. We are the ones mobilising for these outreaches, so we can even sensitise the community during mobilisation that they should not forget the importance of good nutrition as vegetables are a good source of preventive nutrients.
Elderly-man (Madala) as his name implied, looked older than the rest of the group members.
Elderly-man suggested the need to market their various skills to prepare for a future when their term as hospital support groups had expired. He quoted the success of a ‘joint myth campaign’
118 which they held through the financial support of Ministry of Sports Youth and Culture earlier in 2013. Therefore, he was certain that his suggestion could benefit both the group and the community. Elderly-man reflects Wenger’s notion of ‘alignment’. He saw that their local products could effectively benefit the external population, thus going beyond the group’s own engagement. He foresaw the possibilities that through more determination the group could align the three support groups’ practices with the demands of their community.
Elderly-man: We need to be pro-active, plan for future to avoid boredom. We can utilise our multi-skills to establish a consulting firm of experts. We have knowledge as a big resource that no one has in our respective villages. We need to register with an umbrella body of people living with HIV so that we can be authorised to hold workshops for special groups I usually talk about. I have already researched that churches have included HIV education in their calendar, let us take the opportunity to collect as little as M100 from each church when we give HIV education. Then other activities will come up as we proceed.