The People of St Lucia Area: Point of View on Health and Development

This research essay by first year honours students at the University of Kwazulu-Natal explores the St Lucia regional community (comprised of the town of St Lucia, the outlying area of Dukuduku, and Khula Village) and the community perspectives on local health and economic infrastructure. Implementation of a conservation policy established the area as a tourism development node, in preference to a mining region, 12 years prior to the research. The paper summarises research in the “formative” stage of the project, which include various participatory communication strategies for information gathering. The subsequent stage, not addressed in this document, but decribed as the goal of the project was to draw on entertainment education (EE) principles for the production of a short documentary and an accompanying public service broadcast television advertisement using interviews of local community members, representing racial and class divisions of opinion in the community and addressing, for advocacy purposes, the problem areas that emerged.

The film production goal, according to the authors, arose from a concern about the extent to which the makers of the conservation policy had followed up on various aspects of development in the St Lucia area. They claim that the expansion of tourism was not been accompanied by the provision of health facilities to benefit the people who work in the St Lucia tourism sector. The intention of the research design, particularly the film component, is "to make use of Development Support Communication and Participatory Development theories...to mobilise the well-off sector of civil society to organise and agitate for the delivery of the promised benefits of the declaration of St Lucia as a World Heritage Site tourism destination.”

The paper describes the contrast in living and working situations between owners of tourist facilities and their workers by gathering local perspectives on access to health care, infrastructure, proper sanitation and water, and transport services - information gained through observation, interviews, and questionnaires. The research indicates that a significant portion of the St Lucia region (including the Khula and Dukuduku population) was well aware of the dangers and illnesses to which they are exposed, including HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis, as well as increased crime. “However, the non-existence of health care facilities, paved roads, transport, clean water and proper sanitation act as not merely a ‘perceived’ barrier, but as a real barrier that needs to be overcome for the people living in Dukuduku and Khula Village.”