This one project I was hoping I would never have to do in my life. In 2011, 17 years ater democracy in South Africa, it seems the poor are getting even poorer. Young girls in rural communities are ‘bunking’ school whenever they are on their period because they cannot afford to buy themselves pads. This is almost a 3rd of the girls in the entire high school. I spoke to one of the members of the school’s governing body, he further informed me that the school does not have a telephone… this is 2011?? He also told me that the school is lucky to have toilet paper for the students. What makes this story even more painful is the fact that these kids might not even have toilet paper at home. According to one of the teachers, most of the learners’ parents are unemployed, which means hunger is pravelent. Can we describe this as people who live in dire poverty? Must this situtation escalate into the Somalia crisis before we do anything?

Collect_A_Pad is a small project i started, i collect sanitary pads from anyone and everyone who can donate, then deliver them to the young girls affected at the school. However this solution is not sustainable, far from it infact. I once heard of a project that employs young girls and teaches them how to make renewable pads that they sell to local folk. This is a project that focuses on sustainability, because not only do the girls make these pads for communities but they get them for free themselves and earn an income for the work that they do. Apparentely the Grameen Lab runs a similar project too. I doing some research on this, if this can be introduced in my country, a lot of problems will be addressed.

For now i am collecting pads, i am on 100 so far, i need about 600.. someone’s gotta do it!!

Hello Everyone!!!

I recently organized a Global Dignity Day event at my old high school (Pro Arte Alphen Park High School), its an art school with well over 800 students. My team (current OYW ambassadors based in Pretoria) addressed 152 grade 11 learners on the importance of instilling dignity in individuals. Our theme for the day was : Appreciating Everyday Heroes. We wanted to teach the kids the importance of recognizing everyone as an “important” person and that no amount of money can ever make any human being better than anyone else. We are all equal. One kid got up and spoke about how we always tend to forget the people who clean our streets, security guards who make sure that we are safe when they are around etc, in a way they give us a sense of dignity because they show us that we are important, and it is therefore our civil duty too to ensure that we recogninse their dignity too by firstly NOT stripping it away from them.

We also held another event in the rural township of Soshanguve, incorporated with Career day. We emphasised the importance of having a dream and pursuing it. Realizing one’s dream is another way of restoring your own personal dignity. We encouraged the young folk not to give up ontheir goals, to develop character and in the process recognise the “small” people.

Two amazing events!! I was inspired by some of the stories i heard. Just goes to show that in life we never stop growing.

Hope you all had/attended inspiring GDD events.

Peace and Love

Ty

Hello everyone!!!

First and foremost, I cant tell you how extremely intimidating I find blogging to be. It takes me back to grade 11 essay writting, how my neatly presented piece of litterature would come back with red correction marks exposing my grammatical mistakes. It was always a nightmare, which is why i shy away from such platforms that would place me at the mercy of my peers. Then again I thought if blogging was for the eloquent, then Parez Hilton would not have made a fortune from his famous celebrity blog. Hmmm, think about it. People who want to indulge in hollywood gossip don’t care about spelling mistakes. Lol, funny example because I don’t even plan on writting about celebs. But seriously, if are going to read my blog don’t expect those Mail and Guardian types. I am not a writter, that does not change who I am at the very core—>a change agent. Now that I got that out of the way…

Back to business. Being in back in SA,  from a summit like One Young World, you can’t help but feel the need to be different. There’s no going back to the ordinary. I am challenged with all sorts of ideas, I litterally have a notebook next to me just to document things as they come to me. I cannot wait to redesign The Girl Project, I have met so many people who would like to collaborate with me, amazing individuals who share the same passion as me. The Girl Project is a non profit organisation aimed at the empowermt of the girlchild in rural communities in South Africa. The challenges that these girls face are  diverse, which is why we have a more holistic approach which involves career guidance, leadership development, sexual health education and most importantly: self-esteem development, I always over emphasise the importance of having some sort of personal accountability for the way our lives turn out.  I am currently working on the official launch of the project as well as possibly merging it into other projects that my peers are working on. The Girl Project will evolve and reach greater heights, whats different this time is my attitude most importantly. I have a “I want to conquer the world” mindset.

Another project I am working on is called The Advocates. Obviously it involves my passion of youth development and addressing unemployment crisis among young people in South Africa. It’s a young project, barely in the conceptualization phase, still looking to collaborate with some people who share the same vision. Best believe you will be in the loop all the time, from the first meeting I have with sponsors to the launch and beyond. So watch this space!

Hehe, so I got a wake up call before 2012.. LOL

PEACE

Arrived in Zurich yesterday, but did a bit of touring in Munich with a fellow delegate. What a city, everyone is dressed so well, clean roads, use of bikes on public road ( I could not help but wonder whether South Africa would be so much more efficient if 50% of bus,taxi commuters rode bicycles to work?)

Arrived in Zurich in the late afternoon, One Young World team at the airport was so helpful. Staying at Crowne Plaza… met some of the delegates from ALL OVER, two girls who are from Libya origianally. I cant tell yo how excited that anyone form there is able to attend. Everyone around me is passionate and speaking politics… Where are my social entrepreneurs? hopefully i will meet them today. I honestly cannot wait, the networking will be amazing obviously, in the long term very fruitful.

Keep logged in for a live stream of the summit talks, the opening most importantly, about to start in the next 2-3 hours.

I leave you with the words from Jeremiah 1: 7 (AMP) ” But the Lord said to me, Say not, I am only a youth; for you shall go to all whom I shall send you, and whatever I command you, you shall speak. ”

Love.