Helen Zille is Premier of the Western Cape, but more than anything she is a woman who possesses phenomenal leadership qualities. She is both a South African citizen and a human rights activist who stands for goodness. And of course she might not be perfect, but no one ever is.When she visited our group, Students for Humanity, on the 8th of May she shared with us what it was like for a non-racist, white woman like her to take up the challenge of becoming a journalist during, then, apartheid-rife South Africa. She says it was not easy because she had to be watchful of the kinds of stories she reported on, so as not to stir up conflict, but because she loved her job she strived for success. Her sharing with such a beautiful story about her background was very inspiring to the group. We usually see the premier on T.V debating about social issues, often with ANC, and think “She’s fighting for power…”  And today we got the opportunity to see the leader through different eyes, and not through those of the media. We learnt that being a leader takes enormous courage and perseverance. It was a very powerful message she ...

Thank you to all who voted in the WIN A LAPTOP story competition. Congratulations to Nanzi Siyo for receiving the most votes on her touching story: The Pleasure of Self-Mutilation. She wins herself a laptop to write more stories! We wish her all the best in penning her journey to healing and being a voice of hope to her peers.

ONE SOUTH AFRICAN STUDENT  WILL WIN A LAPTOP! and YOU can decide who: Leave a comment to this post  - with your name and the country you are from -  and let us know what you think which story should win!! ----- STORY 01: How we became.. (Written by Bulana) >> Read it here ----- STORY 02: Life is a journey to the bright future (Written by Mfundo) >> Read it here ----- STORY 03: The pleasure of Self-mutilation (Written by Nanzi) >> Read it here ----- STORY 04: Absence of fatherhood (Written by Odwa) >> Read it here ----- STORY 05: The feeling of being lonely (Written by Kabelo) >> Read it here ----- STORY 06: If life were a cartoon (Written by Nelson) >> Read it here ----- STORY 07: Robbed off.. (Written by Zikhona) >> Read it here ----- STORY 08: No longer! (Written by Sbuja) >> Read it here ----- STORY 09: One of "them" (Written by Themby) >> Read it here

I would prefer to commence with giving you all the positive factors that somehow developed the unique and courageous person I am. I would also like to outline the negative factors which I believe that have also played a major role in building my character. I will also mention the likes and dislike which you might find interesting. Zoom in on your global map and you’ll find in Africa a well known sunny country called South Africa, further down you'll find a big city called Cape Town. I live in a small region in Cape Town called Khayelitsha. Every month, week, or day is filled with entirely new experiences for mostly the young stars like me who love touring Khayelitsha. Kindly allow me to take you on an imaginary tour around Khayelitsha. The first thing that forcefully grabs everyone‘s attention is the unity among the people of Khayelitsha. You’ll hear people screaming, laughing and some shouting for joy. Happiness is seen in every child’s face. Most parents may be single but I assure you they fully show their children love that even covers the role of an absent father. They are always helped by the ...

Believe it or not but life is really a journey to the bright future. That is my description of life from my experiences and with out them I would not be where I am today and I wouldn’t have made the decisions that I made during the process of living. Each and everyday is important in my life and I try by all means to make an effort to achieve something in my life. One wise man had once said to me, “Live life to the fullest and never put your problems aside for tomorrow because you will never know what the next day holds for you.. or something worse, what if tomorrow might never come for you? Would you like to live in regrets and sorrow for rest of your life? Or would you stand up for yourself and be a man? Think twice before you do anything”  Those words left me with something to think about for the rest of my life. From my observation through out the years I found that people describe life according to their experiences in it. I have always believed that life is a journey nothing more, nothing less. We all have to walk ...

My name is Nanzi Siyo and I am a cutter, I have been one for four years now. I still remember the reason why I started cutting myself… Before June 18th 2007 (the day my father passed away), every day was just wonderful, waking up knowing that both of my parents were still alive and a bolt from the blue one of them dies… I still remember that day clearly-the day my father passed away-I saw his cold body lying on that hospital bed. I saw a tear in his right eye, and when I wiped it away and closed his eyes I realized that he was really gone. I was so in denial that I would sometimes wait up for him hoping that he would come back to me. I came up with all sorts of excuses that maybe it was all just a dream, but reality stroke and I finally realized that no matter how much I wished he would come back, that would never happen! That’s when it all started, that’s when I started ‘abusing’ myself. One day I couldn’t handle it ,I just couldn’t handle the pain of losing him forever…I took my father’s shaving blade and I ...

As we all know a perfect family is where there is a father, a mother and kids. But unfortunately life isn’t always like that, not everybody’s life is a fairytale with happy endings. Growing up without a father wasn’t a walk in the park for me; I used to ask myself the same question everyday…why am I the one without a father? While I was growing up I wished my father was there for me, to teach me how to ride a bike, I wished he was there to take me for ice cream on Saturdays and I would also like to tell him about the crush I have on the girl next door. But as the years went on I realized that all this wishful thinking was just in my head, and I had to face the fact that I will never be able to turn them into reality. The absence of fatherhood in one’s life is a loss of an experience that could never be replaced in life. This also has an impact in your life because you tend to think that you are useless and you are worth nothing. There is a constant thinking that comes up…that you ...

Being lonely is one of the things that I have experienced in my life. My family is there, but they cannot see me when I am not alright, they are not able to distinguish between bad and happy in my life they cannot….. They think that they know me whereas they do not. In my life I live with my stepmother and my dad but sometimes I would wish I stayed with my mom. Ever in my life I am faced with problems, I have fought with my parents several times but they cannot be able to see me that I am in a shallow place, I am trapped inside a box where I cannot get out, being suffocated, I cry, I feel that I am not cared for that I am not loved sometimes I would think that I must kill my self to be able to get out of my misery and the resentment that I have. But people, in life you must not think like that you must just try and ignore these situations that come in your way, that is what I tell myself everyday. I would look around and see hey! I am lonely there ...

Come to think about it: wouldn’t life be better if it was like an animated cartoon, where a person can just “chop and change” a scene of their life to their heart’s content, well, I wouldn’t lie to you if I have said: “I would also like it this way”, but life is not like that. From my point of view; life is already like a cartoon (Without the planned scenes, continuations & editing.) and where a person faces different challenges and finds a way to solve them without any alterations or changes to them. Well for me, life can only be edited by the only editor/ creator/ main producer of the show (Whoever you believe in) and whatever he puts me in, I will always find a way to go through it, without going the other direction and that’s what I like about life. In the end, life is what you make of it and in the words of my favorite rapper Marshal Mathers III, a.k.a Eminem: “The truth is you don't know what is going to happen tomorrow. Life is a crazy ride, and nothing is guaranteed.” And that’s the real truth about life .

A nations pride lies within its young girls and women. In order for a nation to prosper in all aspects, its young women need to be of high dignity and pride. It is of utter importance that a girl maintains her purity until marriage because that reflects the kind of person she is & her family’s upbringing. This is what I have been told ever since I could remember & this is what I believed in. I respected myself and my body and did not engage in any uncalled for activities. I always participated in the famous Zulu Virginity testing ceremony and my parents prided themselves in me. I was Intombi nto(Virgin) and was proud of myself. It was not until after the grade 10 school holidays that a catastrophe occurred. He had always looked at me in an uncomfortable manner. His eyes told a story. A story of hurt and pain. I tried to warm up to him and let him know that he could talk to me if he ever needed someone to talk to. He was an awfully quiet matriculate and students said that not all was okay for him upstairs. I did not believe this. I always said he ...