In February 2009, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that the cholera epidemic in Zimbabwe had claimed 3,300 lives and infected 66,000 people--greater than the toll of that disease in the whole of Africa in most years. How is it possible that a disease such as cholera can have such a devastating effect in modern times? How should one respond? What theoretical orientations and strategies should be used in such situations? These questions were explored at a workshop in Harare to develop a "social process" response to the crisis. The goal of the workshop was to design an educational program that would enable school communities to collectively address and make decisions on their health matters for both risk mitigation (cholera prevention) and to curb the spread of the disease. Author Beatrice Musindo and Ambrose Chipenzi from the Flemish Office for Development, Cooperation and Technical Assistance (VVOB) facilitated the workshop using an "action learning or open process framework" approach that provided a forum in which workshop participants could challenge each other, at times overturning assumptions, as all present grew in understanding about cholera, health, sanitation, learning and social change issues. By mobilising prior knowledge and understanding, encouraging meaningful dialogue and experimentation and fostering a greater knowledge about how the cholera pathogen spreads, people are able to make choices and are more likely to take appropriate action. After the workshop in Harare, VVOB worked with partners to provide learning programs in 10 districts. Six-hundred schools were initially visited. Follow-up visits to 60 of the schools, six months later, revealed a developing sense of pride in the schools and associated communities (Musindo 2010). Sanitation practices were better organised and waste was less visible. (Contains 3 notes and 3 figures.)