How do you teach something beyond your own ability to understand?

An accomplished teacher knows her subject and how to teach it. But what does the teacher do when what she wants to teach is beyond the human capacity to understand? The North Carolina 7th grade standard course of study focuses on a regional geography of Africa and Asia. That means that sometime during the year-long course the teacher must teach the complex topic of South Africa and apartheid. How can this be done when it is something any rational human being would find incomprehensible?
When I taught this course several years ago I used a simulation in which I divided the class into two groups. The smaller groups got nearly all the supplies, desks, and books, and the larger group got hardly any. Working through a series of tasks, both groups found that they were deeply affected by their situation: those with little were more likely to give up than be angry, while those with everything acted as if they thought they were entitled to all they had been given. As you might imagine, the real learning took place after the simulation ended when we de-constructed the students' experiences. The discussion was rich, and everyone came away with an inkling of how this could have happened in South Africa.
I've been reading a lot about South Africa for the past two years, and from time to time I will write here about the books I'm reading. Last week I read a book that finally might make the task of teaching South Africa and apartheid in a meaningful way possible. It is by award-winning young adult author Beverley Naidoo (The Other Side of Truth and Journey to Jo-burg), a native South African exiled during apartheid and now living in the United Kingdom. It is called Out of Bounds: Seven Stories of Conflict and Hope. In this accessible and evocative collection Naidoo tells one story set in each decade of apartheid and the decade after it ended, the first story set in 1948 and the final story in 2000. Each story features a protagonist who is an early adolescent, and all so-called racial groups are represented--black, colored, white, and Indian. Suitable for students in grades six to ten, these stories don't sugar-coat the circumstances and events of this troubled country during those nearly incomprehensible times. There is sadness and love, conflict and hope. As the protagonists come of age, they face challenges both similar to and a world apart from early adolescents in the United States, no matter where in the US and in what circumstances they may live. A valuable tool is provided by the timeline of apartheid that follows the stories. Important laws and events are explained and correlated with the story titles.
In June 2008 this book will be available in paperback, at a list price of $5.95. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in this topic and country, but especially to adolescents and those who work with them.