South Africa: Introducing Falun Dafa and Exposing the Persecution at the Durban Institute of Technology

In order for more people in South Africa to learn about Falun Dafa, we decided to hold a lecture and set up a practice site at the Durban Institute of Technology.

The lecture site	Teacher and students from the institute listen attentively to the lecture

Preparing for the lecture was a process of introducing Falun Dafa and clarifying the facts. In late September, I went to the Institute's Student Union to tell them that I wanted to set up a Falun Gong practice site at the Durban Institute of Technology and teach the exercises to teachers and students free of charge. They were very pleased, and after learning that such a good practice is banned in China, and that Falun Gong practitioners are being persecuted, they felt it hard to understand, and asked me to set up a Falun Gong practice site at the institute as soon as possible. The lecture was finally scheduled for October 13th.

I spread the news to all the Chinese students I met. Many of them had been negatively influenced by the Chinese government's propaganda against Falun Gong and they felt unhappy when I talked about Falun Gong at first. I told them about the benefits I obtained from practising and the persecution that I have suffered. Gradually, some of them came to a better understanding, but were afraid of being subjected to the Chinese government's persecution and did not dare to learn anything more about Falun Gong. We need put much more effort into letting people know the truth in South Africa.

We also put up posters to let students know about our lecture, and demonstrated the exercises on two of the Institute's campuses two days before the lecture. Many students came to inquire. Some students told their classmates about our lecture, and some teachers and students also gave us good suggestions. On the morning of October 13th, we handed out many flyers on campus.

At the same time, we contacted the public affairs office of the institute to introduce Falun Dafa to them and explain the facts about Falun Dafa. They showed great interest, and planned to publish the news about our lecture in the "Monday Edition", the institute's weekly publication.

We had arranged to have a practitioner who had just began practising Falun Gong and benefited a lot share her experiences, but the sharing was cancelled because she could not attend at the last minute. We realised it was the interference. We were determined to think and act righteously, and go on with our lecture as scheduled. We introduced Falun Gong to the teachers and students and described the persecution of Falun Gong taking place in China, as well as the worldwide lawsuits against the perpetrators of the persecution. Moreover, a practitioner who had suffered persecution in China recounted her experiences.

After the lecture, many students told us that they wanted to learn to practice, the exercises, and introduce Falun Gong to their classmates.