{"podcast":{"title":"How Humans Work Podcast","slug":"how-humans-work-podcast-1330381","podcast_index_feed_id":1330381,"rss_url":"https://feeds.captivate.fm/how-humans-work/","website_url":"HTTPS://howhumanswork.us/episodes","image_url":"https://artwork.captivate.fm/c6530537-c260-4096-9976-73a268831e74/uHKbO7IMPU2Co6tEhGGf4S0J.png","author":"Jef Szi","episode_count":69,"summary":"Join Jef Szi—renaissance acupuncturist and insatiably curious show host—as he guides us into the labyrinths of human nature. Each season and each episode explores a central theme through conversations with guests from diverse traditions: thinkers like Robert Sapolsky, Deb Dana, and Michael Meade, alongside artists, activists, and explorers such as Luis J. Rodriguez, Orin Carpenter, and Dossie Easton. Together, we uncover personal stories and timeless wisdom—insights that stir, resonate, and inspire. Tune in and journey into the forces that shape who we are and how we live as we navigate the personal and the profound. Consider yourself invited to walk the winding path with the How Humans Work Podcast.","last_synced_at":"2026-07-24T14:18:08.678235+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/how-humans-work-podcast-1330381"},"episode":{"title":"#58: African Solutions to African Problems - Reaching the Forgotten","slug":"58-african-solutions-to-african-problems-reaching-the-forgotten","published_at":"2026-07-14T02:30:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/how-humans-work-podcast-1330381/58-african-solutions-to-african-problems-reaching-the-forgotten","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/how-humans-work-podcast-1330381","url":"HTTPS://howhumanswork.us/episodes","audio_url":"https://episodes.captivate.fm/episode/7145e525-3ecc-4771-9c32-3ec7833ca418.mp3","summary":"Episode #58: Show Summary With exceptional kindness and clarity, Mada Siebert and Linet Dube from African Solutions to African Problems (ASAP) join Jef Szi to tell the ASAP story and its approach to supporting the rural communities in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. The eleven Xhosa and Sotho villages in the Matatiele region they work with are deeply challenged by cycles of poverty and trauma. These village are underserved, last-mile communities that have been profoundly impacted by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. We come to understand how ASAP’s asset-based model of community support, which listens to the needs and waters the emergent responses within the villages, is foundational to everything ASAP does. We learn how ASAP partners with the gogos (grandmothers), tribal chiefs, the Imbizo social structure, and other proactive members to build up these forgotten communities. Mada and Linet show us that needs are holistic and that the best methods of sustainability require listening and becoming responsive allies to the needs—which almost always include food security, identification and documentation support, interrupting the cycles of gender-based violence, and resources for early childhood development. We also learn about the ASAP’s founder, the late Priscilla “Scilla” Higham , who was Jef’s mother-in-law. We learn how, in 2003, after driving through the Eastern Cape countryside and finding villages devastated by HIV/AIDS with no help reaching them, Scilla used her incredible tenacity and strong-willed spirit to launch ASAP, leveraging her well-earned social capital to begin investing in these overlooked communities. This episode is more than a discussion of poverty and trauma. It opens the window, revealing a refreshing ecosystem of quiet yet fierce resilience. Even within t…","meta_description":"Episode #58: Show Summary With exceptional kindness and clarity, Mada Siebert and Linet Dube from African Solutions to African Problems (ASAP) join Jef Sz…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":4318,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/how-humans-work-podcast-1330381/episodes/58-african-solutions-to-african-problems-reaching-the-forgotten/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/how-humans-work-podcast-1330381/58-african-solutions-to-african-problems-reaching-the-forgotten.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}