As the kick off of an exciting cultural exchange we’ll be doing with the South African StudentsforHumanity, we got together in Hilversum.

“What would you like to know from a south african youth in Capetown?”

Well…. Erhmmm…. What can I say?…

A bit hesitant at first, inspiration started flowing pretty soon: “What do you do in your spare time?”, “What kind of music do you listen to?”, “Do you play sports?”, but also deeper questions like “Are you religious?” and “How do you see your future?” A sound basis for a real cultural exchange. Questions that we hope to find answers on, trying to understand the african way of living.

And there was great enthusiasm to answer the questions that the <a href=” http://studentsforhumanity.com/about/”>Khayelistha group</a> is interested in. Linde and Darleen will try to explain how the Dutch look at same sex relationships, Anne will write about going out, Lucienne hopes to formulate her biggest dream (and maybe those of others too), Bart will tell you about Dutch traditions and Pim about the role of religion in the Netherlands… but that’s just a start!

We will have another meeting soon, in which we’ll try to answer some of your questions but also think of new ones to ask. We are very curious about the differences between the Dutch and African culture, and the question why these differences exist. New information will be added to the site after each meeting. Answers to the above questions will be posted in this blog, together with pictures to give you a better image of our life in the Netherlands.

So… yes, we have started… and are looking forward to get to know you better!

Refugee VI football club is an initiative by Ephraim Ntlamo 17 years old. Refugee VI is a youth soccer club based in Cape Town, South Africa.  It was formed in September 2009. The purpose of this team is not only to kick some balls around.  According to the United Nations Refugee Agency [UNHCR] South Africa hosts some 40,00 refugees and over 100,000 asylum -seekers. A large part of these refugees are unaccompanied children between the age group of 15 and 18 who fled their countries on their own without any friend nor family member. After the xenophobic attacks in May 2008  the relationship between foreign nationals from other African states  and South African local communities became fragile.  As a refugee child my self I thought it would be necessary to form a sport institution that will can be part of the solution towards the difficult integration process and that will also give refugee children something  to keep themselves busy thinking positively about life, bring back the the fun, friendship, self esteem and confidence which I learned we  refugee children miss badly.

The real issue that drove me to spend most of my time getting this team together was the fact that refugee children face different sorts of discrimination. This discrimination becomes mostly visible in schools or in public transport. I felt that there is a need of communication between and mutual understanding of refugees and the local communities. The challenge is how can this be achieved? In my opinion, this difficult integration process can easily be achieved through sport. So the idea of Refugee VI is that we play soccer while spreading the message and the awareness about refugees. Like, where do we come from? What made us flee our country?  How did we make it to South Africa? The idea is for us refugees not to isolate ourselves from the locals but to have a good rewarding relationship that benefits the community and the country as a whole. We have a few South African players in the team.

Why the name Refugee VI?  Refugees  in South Africa come mostly from the following  6 nations: Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Angola, Uganda, Somalia, and D.R.C

Lastly and most importantly Refugee VI serves to persuade other refugee children to consider education as the way to success or a better life. We meet after training and discuss issues like HIV/AIDS  and other sexually transmitted diseases. So far the idea has worked very well, some of the boys gave up their  jobs in the vine yard farms and look forward to brighten thier futures by attending school next year

IF WE CAN PLAY SOCCER TOGETHER ,WE CAN STOP XENOPHOBIA TOGETHER !

My vision for our group, Students for Humanity, is that we become active members in our communities. That we bring about positive change in people’s lives. And I take it upon myself to go out there into our communities and find out what exactly are some of the things that we can help them out with. I know of many struggling, community-based organizations that I feel we can assist.  I am also willing to go out there and find people who are willing to donate to or sponsor those organizations, so that they can continue with the good work that they are doing.
– MCYB

We, as students for humanity, want to do something important for our communities. So I want to contribute on the orphanage side, because I like working with people and children. To me, helping young people and working with young minds is what I enjoy most. I will also help finding sponsors.
– mfundo

I would like to be responsible for the compilation of short stories. I think that it is important for us to express our creativity and not let our talents fade, I mean, it is very rare for one to see young people actually having a short stories book that they can call their own. We, as the students for humanity, should see this as an opportunity to inspire other young people out there to also write about things that they experience in their communities. We, the students for humanity should not only concentrate on writting short stories in the genre of fantacy but should also write about realistic things so that other people, especially young people, can relate to our stories.
– Nanzi

I want to volunteer for community organizations. I will give my full time in helping other people in the communities and each project that will be generated by Studentsforhummanity. I want to be part of the forward going and exciting movement to help others in need. I would like to interact with others.
-– sbuja

I would like to register Studentsforhumanity as an organisation for the youth so that we can be sponsored by the government which allows us to sponsor other non-governmental organisations in our communities.
I will dedicate my time to find more information on how to get registered as a youth group.
– yara

Something that I would like us to do for the community, we must try and teach the disadvantaged primary schools about computer skills the basic skills that could help them to get advantage in terms of computing world. Also to educate them about the basic leadership skills that would help them to become the leaders of the future generation. And we must try to find a way in  which we could convince young, immature but intelligent and beautiful teenagers to stay away from drugs and start doing positive things in life and make them part of the students for humanity family.
-– spha

I like to visit orphanages and give them the love that they need. I would like the students for humanity members to collect old toys, or anything that they can give  to children. I truly think that its pointless for someone to have things that he/she doesn’t need, stored in their homes while other people really need those things, they would make them happy. Anything that anyone can give is more then welcome. We should also try our best to make government sponsered orphanges to be noticable, by maybe going out there and asking for donation and anything that they are willing to sponser. We should all have love for the people and help them because “umntu ngumntu ngabantu”
– Ntombie

I would like to volunteer in sport activities during December holidays.
I will establish contact with the orphanage home that is close to where I live.
I would also like to volunteer with the leadership courses in Maths and Science.
– wonga

I would really love to be part and parcel of the group that will be visiting places like orphanages, pre-schools etc.
Designing is one of my hobbies, due to that I would like to be with the group that will design the students for humanity membership card, poster, T-SHIRT etc.
– bulana

I would like to responsible for all the podcast that we do. I would like to make sure that we get it well organized, that podcasts are posted in time and with a variety of topics. I would also love to get involved in marketing the project so that we can get sponsors and raise something, which will allow us to do something for the community. I would also like to be part of the students for humanity group that will offer free extra lessons of science and maths to township schools, as our school focuses on them. All and all I would like to be responsible for the growth of this project.
–- siphe

Firstly I would like to be the person who is in charge of the Student for Humanity theme song/s, I’m able to write lyrics and I’m crazy in love with music. Secondly I would like to be part of a team that will seek sponsorships at big companies. I would also like to design the Student for Humanity t-shirt.
– skhumbuzo

I would like to be a leader of a poetry section, and to be a leader of a short story section because I am a story teller. There is an organization in my community that helps children after school, it’s like aftercare, they can teach us how to knit because they can. I would like to publish my own short story in this Studentsforhumanity short story book.
– Mkhuseli

My commitment is to visit an orphanage home, where I can help with taking care of the children at the home. I would like to visit, help out and at the same time look and listening to what their challenges are, how things can be better. I would also love to help with getting and approaching potential sponsors for the homes that need help.
–- nosizwe

In my community there are many places that need to be helped out by the youth. The help is not needed in the form of money, but in the form of a helping hand. We need to show love to the community. What I would like to do in my coomunity is help out with the young kids and old people. I would like to show the young kids the opportunities that are there for them and teach them to value education, because in my community most of the kids dont value education and life. I would do this by opening a leadship programm in their schools. I would also like to help in an old age home with the cleaning and making sure that people are happy.
-– mlamli

I would like to be the leader of the “short stories book”, because I am so curious about other peoples thoughts and backgrounds, what its like to be a living human being for them? I would also be interested in other people’s experiences in life, what kind of challenges are peope facing, what obstacles are there? My goal is to allow people to write about her/his personal story, to tell us the challenges that s/he faced then and now. I can see that students for humanity can intervene and help here and there.
-– aphish

I would like to be a teacher in the studentsforhumanity project. I want to teach whatever is there to teach that would make a difference, because it is all about making a difference e.g. I would like to be part of the teaching in the leadership course, singing, dancing, reading and telling stories. I would also like to be a researcher for the this project, but I do not want to research all the time.
– yandisa

I will go to my church and ask them if there will be holiday clubs this holiday. If there will be any I will try to persuade them into letting us take part into helping the children who are young in the streets and teach them the way to life and how to set their goals.
-– Iran

Image under the creative commons by D-G-Butcher

From my knowledge and experience of culture up until this point, I can define culture as the shared expression of behaviors and interactions, and affective understanding that is learned through a process of socialization. These shared expressions identify the members of a culture group while also distinguishing those of another group. Culture is the way one expresses his or her self according to the way of one’s family belief-like style of living and it holds the history of one’s people. I am a Xhosa child and I was raised under and taught the Xhosa rituals and customs. Some of the practices that I do, I actually perform them because it is a must and I do not even know the meaning of them, nor the idea behind it all. Some of us, as the youth we do not value our culture because of the things affecting us in this generation.

– Mfundo

My life has been a reflection of what many young people are thinking about culture. For some reason I don’t seem to get across the fact we do things that are different but we are the same. This is the reason I say I need to investigate the matter.

That is why I say:

To me culture is a pure confusion

My thoughts are thick, I gather

What is it with the people?

Do I have a hard brain to understand?

Or it’s simply just the hard feelings of the unknown

Upon looking, I can’t go forward

I need a clean new start

I call upon the people to settle my thoughts

I call upon my imagination

I want to think today!!!!!!!!

– Bongi

What? Who? When? How? Why? These are some of the words that immediately come to my mind when I think of the concept of culture. What really is culture? Does it exist or does it not? I keep asking these questions which I cannot find answers to, and I am starting to make up my own answers, trying to create myself a little world with my own system of beliefs.

Ok. First there is Christianity and then there is African culture which, on its own, consists of many, different cultural belief systems. Which one of the two am I supposed to choose? Is one better then the other? It is quite difficult for me to make up my mind because all the belief systems that are out there actually have good reasoning behind their belts for their existence. Christians believe in God and they have the bible to refer to whenever an answer is needed to whatever question for whatever reason. Africanists also have substantial back up for all their practices, even though some may often appear as more bizarre than others.

Seeing that I cannot bring myself to choosing which one of the two to choose from and that I fail to find real answers to most, if any, of my questions. I have decided not to believe in either of the above systems but rather create my own system of beliefs. At the end of the day it is not what I believe in what will make me a better individual but rather the kind of choices I make.

— MCYB

I believe in all cultures. I for one see culture as what was thought by a person or people driven by what was occurring those days. Because of the wonders I have seen so far, I am bound to believe in the existence of the ancestors. Yes, they do exist because the people who believe in them (like the Sangomas) are actually succeeding and going somewhere because of them. A Sangoma is a traditional Zulu healer and respected elder who lives by frequently connecting with the ancestors. On my side, not to offend any reader, the LORD that was crucified on the cross because of my sins did die. But the extraordinary thing that makes him even more worthy to be praised is that he overcame death. He died but on the third day He raised from the dead. He concord death.

– N.Bulana

I was raised by a Sangoma, my mother was born in the Eastern

Cape and I was born in the Western Cape. I have no clue what is

culture all about. I do what I am told to do. I believe as they

believed in their culture, which they know in details. I tried to find out

about culture but found nothing. The saying that I came

across is: “I was told to this and I was not told why is it done, I

do it because I believe in older people”.

Some people believe in God and some in ancestors… I believe in both.

I never went to church but I think God knows that I do praise him. And I am confused that

there is God and ancestors, don’t they work together? If anyone has

answers please help me, why is there something called culture and what

is it for?

A Sangoma is someone who heals people in a traditional way using herbs

and these herbs they don’t just go to the bushes/forest and take them,

they dream while they are asleep and their ancestors tell them where

to go and dig for herbs to make medicine. Some people become

very ill and when sent to the doctor nothing will appear but the

doctor will say he/she is fine, until he/she is sent to a

Sangoma (Traditional healer).

It is a long process to become a real Sangoma, for some it takes a year or more. At first he/she wears all white clothes or all red and beads (that’s is the first phase). The color of the beads is not just chosen but also appears on her/his

dreams. Then when he/she is well in health and knows everything about

healing then they can wear their own clothes.

– Siphe

Culture is something that we as South Africans are diverse in. We have many different cultures in our country. I feel like culture is something that we have to value because leads us in life, it shows us the importance of life. But I also feel confused by some of the rituals; like doing circumcision and slaughtering a goat or sheep for a dead person. I don’t know why we have to perform some of the rituals. But all in all I think culture is the guide in life so that we can not make silly mistakes. It is also there so that we can make something better about our lives. We all have different cultures and some of those questions we have cannot be answered. In life though, we don’t have an answer to everything.

– M. Gadi

Some people believe that culture, the Xhosa culture to be precise, makes them who they are but what I do not understand in the Xhosa culture is the concept of ancestors. In my culture, people believe that the ancestors guide and protect them; they then perform various rituals to praise and to pray to the ancestors by slaughtering goats and cows. Ancestors are dead people right? How can they help people when they do not have the power to bring themselves to life? I think the whole topic on culture is more of a self fulfilling prophecy, if I believe that ancestors are my primary source to God then that means that praying to my ancestors will work for me. All in all I feel that we all have our own beliefs of who or what God is and I feel that we should not criticize other people’s cultures because we may not be sure whether our religions are the ideal ones. After all, if we all felt the same way about God then we would all be doing the same thing right? In conclusion, we should all do what works for us!

– Nanzi

What does culture mean to me?

This is one of the questions that I ask my self, but I do not have the answers. Many people, including me, cannot define the term culture and many people again including myself are confused by the culture that we have and as humans we have our own doubts.

What I could just say is that, it is not the culture that confuses us but the people who think they know something about the culture that confuses us, these are the people who tell us things that are not true and we should believe those things that they say, like my brother saying that I shouldn’t play soccer in the house (I know that I shouldn’t play soccer in the house), but when my brother says that I shouldn’t play soccer in the house, he says it like it is more than the ball being played in the house, it something like there is more to it. And when I try to ask why, he would say: “Mother said we shouldn’t play soccer and I didn’t argue so you too mustn’t ask questions that have no answers and that leave me in confusion.”

I also think that what makes people confused about cultures is that we live in a world were most of the things that we should know are kept as secrets from us. And as humans we cannot really believe in something that we do not see, like God and ancestors. Some people believe in Ancestors and others believe in God and we tell ourselves that this is the way while we know that we are not sure of what we are saying. We also say that there is power beyond us and we are not truly committing ourselves to that power because we can’t see the power we just think the power is there.

– Yandisa

Out there is Science, God, culture. Which one should I choose? There are so many people speaking different things to me. Which one must I believe? I have so many unanswered questions in my mind. At home my culture is emphasized, at school there is science and my community is filled with various churches with different Gods…I am confused…I don’t know what to believe anymore. As I am growing up, exploring and discovering new things I am becoming more and more confused. There are some rituals that we practice in my culture like, male circumcision, Lobola (=money paid by the groom for the bride), Imbeleko (a goat is slaughtered to introduce a baby to the ancestors).

I believe in both the ancestors and God because I am raised by a religious family. To me culture is what makes me who I am.

– Asithandile

I don’t believe everything in my culture because I don’t understand some things. And when I ask my elders, they don’t know some of the answers either.

Most people believe in different things but we have one thing in common, we all believe!!

Some people believe that there is God; some believe in ancestors, some don’t believe anything.

Most people don’t believe in God but they believe in Science. But who exactly controls the life we live if it’s not God. I believe that God is the one who controls the earth and the air we breathe. And sun comes every day. There is someone behind all this.

I think we must understand each other, and accept that we don’t believe the same thing.

– Mkhuseli

I believe in everything in life; I believe in god, ancestors and all other things in life. But in terms of my own culture I feel very proud to belong to something that is unique as “Culture”. I also believe that as a person you must have something to believe in, not knowing why, because once you know why all the things in life are being done, then what will happen? Your mind will not work and that is why you must always be wondering why most of the things are happening. Culture and its customs are diverse so that we feel as one of a kind and unique in the same time, it also gives the people who belong to the same culture a connection in a way.

– Sbuja

Your culture is defined by the way you interact with others, the language you speak, your dress-up, and your rituals and custom. And I belong in the XHOSA culture (http://www.sa-venues.com/language-xhosa.htm).

I really believe in my culture but sometimes it feels like, according to my point of view, everyone could believe in my culture. Can you imagine a nation that believes all the same thing?

I believe that my culture brings up humanity (Ubuntu) and most of things that are done or not done in my culture are to guide you to right things in life. For an example the payment of “ilobola”, which is the payment made by the groom’s family to the bride’s family as appreciation for raising up the bride. In this way a man would value his wife.

Some people do not even believe in their culture I’d like to convince those people to start to dig up about their culture so that they hold on to their cultures. While doing this, remember there are questions that cannot be answered.

It is up to you!

With love from the African cultured boy

– YARA. Peace!!!

The Students for Humanity were part of an exciting discussion that was based on a cultural exchange we’ll be doing a Netherlands-based youth activism organisation. The Students were asked, ‘What would you like to know from a dutch youth in Netherlands?’. Then we asked them to write down a key word (from the discussion). Key words were scrambled amongst them and they had to pick a keyword from a pile. The keyword they ended up with was the topic of their blogpost today. Here’s what they had to say on each keyword (issue):

(image under the creative commons by Feuillu)

Nosizwe on ‘Challenge’:

If the question was directed to me the first thing that would come to my mind would be how things don’t always go the way I want them to. Now I would say the one challenge that most of us face would be getting our voices heard especially when people don’t even want to listen to what you have to say. We’re all faced with different challenges as we aren’t raised in the same families and aren’t influenced by the same things and sometimes the decisions we make are the main source of our challenges.

Nontombi on ‘Influence’:

What influences me the most is the music I listen to and how I see things. The music that I listen to mainly is hip-hop, but that’s not the only that genre that influences me in music, there are lots of other genres that I like and listen to. What I like to do is to mix them up and come up with my own style. I also mix the style of clothes according to different genres but make them fit. My mainly focus is on African hip-hop clothing, becoz I believe in loving and supporting my country in every aspect of life. I don’t like being influenced by friends becoz today a friend is saying this and tomorrow is saying that, which doesn’t comply in my lifestyle. So as free as a bird I live my life the way I want to.

Yandisa on ‘Lifestyle’:

Living in South Africa, there are different types of lifestyles. You get the style where you just have to live and not see what is happening around you or you can live your lifestyle to the fullest. Living your life to the fullest is in two ways, you either want to live your life by taking chances by making other people hurt or you can do what I do: live your life and making other people who are around you happier.

Happy Lifestyle is one of the concept that I consider when changing my lifestyle and for me I always make sure that everything that I am going to do and the thing that I have just done that it didn’t end up hurting someone else, and also since I am also human, I do something s without considering and it end up hurting someone. I make sure that it doesn’t hurt someone else again and I make sure that that person which I have done wrong I do something that will make that person to know that I’m really sorry.

Aphiwe on ‘Education’:

In my own opinion and experience, I think education is putting someone’s mind to maximum, it lets your mind go wild and perform at its best. I think education was introduced for two reasons: first to train someone’s mind and secondly to put one’s knowledge potential to maximum . Education is a gift of life no one can take it away from you. Thugs can rob your valuable things such as cell phones and clothes but they forget one thing to rob which is education, they can’t rob you of it – it’s something that you will die with. Education is the key that opens closed doors for everyone education is the key to success.

Nwabisa on ‘Peer Pressure’:

Peer pressure can be a good and a bad thing. I have experienced peer pressure in good manner. Because since I came to COSAT my behavior towards my books changed. I used to kind of not care what was going on in class because I believed I was clever but my grades were actually going south. Then I came to COSAT, the students and school’s environment thought me actual opposite. They’ve shown how to act in a more moral way. So I have experienced peer pressure by wanting to belong in the COSAT community by practicing their values.

Siphe on ‘Improvements’:

Improvement involves both prospective and retrospective reviews. It is aimed at improvement — measuring where you are, and figuring out ways to make things better. It specifically attempts to avoid attributing blame, and to create systems to prevent errors from happening.

Improvement activities can be very helpful in improving how things work. Trying to find where the “defect” in the system is, and figuring out new ways to do things can be challenging but also can be fun. It’s a great opportunity to “think outside the box”. An effective Improvement program can really help make your life better. So take challenges to get better improvements in life for yourself and for the country.

Busie on ‘Dream’:

My dream is for South Africa to be a better place. I wish to see our country becoming a place where everyone is willing to live peacefully with one another regardless of our religious, cultural, economical, sexual or racial differences. I hope that in doing so we will be embracing our stunning diversity at its truest roots. South Africa will be hosting the 2010 Soccer World Cup very soon and so we (as South Africans) should be united and prepared to welcome the world.

Bonginkosi on ‘Youth Empowerment’:

Youth empowerment for me possesses that element that actually defines the way teenagers inspire themselves. That creativity plays with my head and it goes around the fact that we have something to share as teenagers. It makes me proud, in this sense, for example, we as the youth we inspire ourselves by writing poems!!!

For me that is youth empowerment in a nutshell, that’s my own definition and opinion. What’s yours?

Sphamandla on ‘Wealth’:

My understanding of wealth, it is the definition of being rich or wealthy the person or a country is.It is also the quality of wellbeing .It also influences power, for instance, if you are wealthy you have that power to control others. It is the great amount of a particular valuable material possession or welfare. Is the quality of having good wealth.

Tash on ‘Obstacles’:

Main obstacle is life but then you need to divide life into different pieces. Poverty is the verse of everyday where people can’t discover their talents because their main focus is poverty. There is also crime that is destroying our leaders and citizens foundations. There are those who are being feared because of the path they took to get out of poverty. But they are just hidden/singing the same song about poverty. But in all that its part of life and just take it as another unpleasant day and make sure it does not repeat itself tomorrow cause life goes on.

Mlamli on ‘Change’:

Change is something that is happening here in South Africa. We as South African are still developing but there is some change happening in our country – especially since we’re going to be hosting the world cup there is a lot of development happening. But we have problems in our education system because most of the youth here don’t make it to university. That is one of the reasons that there isn’t enough change in the country. There are more people who are uneducated than those whore are educated .

Nkosikhona on ‘Pain’:

Pain is painful and undesirable to everyone. Many hate pain. Some even ask questions like “do we really need to go through pain”. To us as South Africans this word means a lot, which I cannot explain in simple terms that will make you feel satisfied. For one to understand ‘pain’, one needs to go through pain. As a South African I can try to give you a brief explanation, but don’t think what you’ll understand is really what it means, only because you need to experience it first.

Pain is part of us. Pain is nearly what we are expecting each and everyday. Please don’t get me wrong! South Africans’ ‘pain’ is different. Through pain we realize our purpose of living. During moments of pain we tend to find our true beings, not what people want us to be. True friends or ‘best friends’ are examined through pain just as gold goes through fire. For one to get what he/she wants to its best, one needs to go through pain for it. What easily comes, easily goes. We love pain, not because of the fact that it is pain, but because of its outcomes or things that come after pain.

Sbuja on ‘Influence’:

Influence is what really affects the way we think as young people of South Africa, some of us live in areas where there is poverty, substance abuse and violence. This affects their point of views and the way they think, do things and the kind of dreams & goals they have as young South Africans. We are also as South Africans influenced by the many opportunities we have and you learn to use them wisely so that you can achieve.

Nanzi on ‘You’:

I’m a 16 year old girl who is very serious about life, very driven and diligent. My motto in life is “Luck has nothing to do with it!” because I believe that everything that happens in my life was meant to happen. I love life and always make sure that I live life to the fullest; a wise woman once said that ‘tomorrow might never come’. I like people who know what they want and actually go for it, and never let anything get in their way. I love reading fantasy books because it’s the only time that I get to escape from reality and not think about my personal issues. I love thinking about the superiority of God. I’m very fascinated by the fact that so many people are willing to change their rebellious ways for HIM. Music, nature, poetry and family inspire me to be, and they actually influence the person that I am. My message for the youth is very simple ” be you!”.

Iran on ‘Cultural Diversity’:

In South Africa we are a diverse country because of the different cultures, people, customs we have. We as South Africans are people that are proud to be called South Africans, you might ask why or what makes us to be different, well that’s simple, the cultures we have make us who and what we are and it determines the choices we make and for the future. Without the cultures we have we wouldn’t know where we come from and in order to know where you going you must first know where you are going.

Yara on ‘Economy’:

My country has just recovered from the huge economical crises and during the time of the ecomical crises everything’s price was raised up everything was expensive back then. This affected us a lot as students and as youth because we don’t work and even that the taxi fair was also raised up because of the petrol consumption that has increased. In these kind of situations as youth we got to flow with the flow of the others meaning that we have nothing that we can do like disagreeing except to make a muchto those who know much than us but that won’t help either.

Have you been inthis kind of a situation or your country and how does that affect you as youth and as a student?

Mfundo on ‘Pride’:

First of all, what does “pride” mean to me as a youth of South Africa? According to my understanding, pride is a feeling of self-respect and personal worth, but most of all it is a right of being unique, a right of being an individual and having a freedom of being who you want to be.

I have a dream about my career not dreams like most people do then they got into a cage that they are stuck of choosing at the end on which dream that they must go for. My dream is to be a guy that is dreaming the world of the new technology. I want to work with computers for the rest of my life. Everyday I am on my cell phone because I haven’t own a computer yet, just surfing the net and figuring how it works and how it is operating.

Fast cars, I like them so much and even dreaming of driving one. I like racing as I like competing at school, actually doing that with myself. I want to drive. I would love to own a house that is designed by me, because I love things that I own and one day say “That thing was designed by me”. And not thinking of marrying, the reason would be because I love my job than anything else. I also want to be a body builder and even be part of the World Wrestling.

By the one and only, Siphe Mananga (Mr. Nice Guy).

My dream is to become a great painter and to be able to draw or paint at any angle. I also want to go to the University of Cape Town an study Astronomy because I love looking and exploring the mysteries of the universe and my second option at university is Electric engineering.

Sbuyiselo (Sbuja)

In the future I would love to be an Electrical engineer or a medical doctor, presently I’m doing all I can to make sure I reach my dream. I would also love to do some volunteer work at a shelter or an old age home, because I like to give back to the community. I also want to live in a big house with my parents and cater to them in every way I can.

Nosizwe

My dream is to become a Computer Scientist, because I like computers and now I want to fix them. I would like to publish my poetry, my short stories and mo book. And one day I want to be a script writer, I want to write a movie about a child who does not want to listen to the parents, and the child want to go back to the stomach. The movie will show how great life is, and how this child will suffer when it can’t see the world.

I want to stay here at Khayelitsha because Khayelitsha made me who I am and I want everyone to see me when I succeed and I want to be a good example to others. I want to have a family if I find someone who is my type. I want to have kids and live happily ever after!!

And I want to support my family especially my young sister. I want her to study and succeed in life. I will support her till my last breath. I want an easy and happy life!

Mkhuseli

My name is Busisiwe Mashele and I am 18 years old. When I grow I want to study Film and Media most preferably at international university. In general, I would describe myself as a loving and caring person who loves putting smiles on other people’s faces. In the future I see myself working with people from all different walks of life and making a positive
difference in their lives. Apart from working as film producer I would also love to establish an orphanage home for children who are both infected and affected by HIV and Aids.

My ultimate goal though is to live a happy life with a family of own and to also travel the world.

Busie

My dream is to became a doctor and study Medical degree, the MBChB, at the University of Cape Town, because it is the best university that can make me the best of the best doctors this world had ever seen. I want to specialise on the surgery side because there are very few doctors who are surgeon in South Africa.

Mfundo

My dream is to save people’s lives by pursuing a career in Neurology. I want to live in a big house with my mother, and drive a Lamborghini. I want to bring a smile to an orphan’s face by giving them a place that they can call home. I want to share what I have with the needy by donating money to charities. I want to travel the world and explore different cultures and religions. I want to do everything that has always been thought to be impossible by man!!!

By:Nanzi Siyo

I’d like to see myself being a fashion designer, because I believe that I’ve got a talent of seeing things differently from what we already have in out country, and also express myself by showing them a piece of me and my designs (all weird things that are in my imagination, LOL!). To achieve my goals I’m starting by going out there and search on what qualities should I have in order to achieve this goal and working towards finishing school and study fashion designing at university.

Ntombie

My dream is all about making a difference in the whole wide world. I would also like to travel the world so that I ain’t just making a difference here in South Africa but the world. I would like to have my own family, because I think I owe my future family so that I can tell my kids what wrong and right and so that I could love them as much as I love myself. But most of all I would like to live my life to the fullest.

Yandisa Mtsotso

I am one of the proudly South African youth that does not find Caster`s problem funny. We all know that Caster`s gender is neither a boy nor a girl, she is a hermaphrodite as we have seen and heard from the media.

We as the group of students from COSAT running the organisation and website studentsforhumanity.com, do not find this matter as amusing as the media does. In considering this matter we think that at the moment the S.A`s 800m gold medalist Caster Semenya needs our support regarding to her situation.

I, personally, never liked this thing gender testing but in sports it is all about fair play. If Caster was not tested and continued her career it would be unfair to her competitors.

It is not up to us to decide what and how should be done. So we have to watch and correct what’s being done wrongly by the government.

All and all I would like all the South African and others to support Caster Semenya during these hard times of her life.

Regards,

Yamkela (Yara) Hlehliso

Dear Managers of sports,

I’m one of the students that are part of the organisation called Students for Humanity, where I express my views.

I think sports managers and coaches don’t care about people, they just want to win and don’t care about peoples’ reputation and DIGNITY.

The test were done before CASTER participated and she’s a hermaphrodite and they didn’t take that into consideration and withdraw her in the squad, they just go ahead as planned (meaning let CASTER go to BERLIN whereas they know that she’s in this situation) and when the test was done there (BERLIN) they started complaining, saying that CASTER has been stripped of her dignity, whereas they knew her situation in the first place.

I’m putting blame on managers and coaches ,and next time they better be careful because they will destroy many upcoming young athlete, they have just destroy Caster’s future and dignity.

Yours sincerely,

Aphiwe Matiwane (Mr)

Dear South Africa

This is to inform you about how we as young South Africans feel.

We all know what happened to Semenya, now we are afraid because anything can happen to us. We want our rights to be secured as teens.

What you did to Semenya shows that you are capable of doing anything to anyone.

When it comes to sport South Africa have to be fair because there is no sport for both sex organs. Or you have to create sport for them.

When I look myself in the mirror I see who I am and what I can do or cannot do. So no one must criticize me.

I think what you did to Semenya is going to hurt her for the rest of her life. You should have tested everyone before and if you find that there is someone who is not a girl, you should have not allowed that before the game.

So my solution is that you must apologize to Semenya and allow her to be a girl, and continue running. That will show everyone that you care.

Yours faithfully,

Mkhuseli Mpu

Dear Caster`s Family

We as the Students for Humanity know you are in a terrifying situation. We want you to stay strong because the Lord has created this situation for a special purpose .Caster is the hero, Caster is an undisputed champion. She is an example that needs your encouragement.

She needs tour encourage and blessings to have strength to conquer this situation .To Caster we want you to know that you the best and we love you unconditionally, so be smart and be wise,open your eyes don’t let the devil come in your way carry on with your destiny .We will all behind you all the time, our blessings will pour to you like rain. Be yourself and focus on the future.

To the people all over the world, please support our champion “CASTER!!!!!!”, our queen .Lets courage her not discourage her. Let’s wish good for her, not anything bad. Let’s give her love and respect.

Yours sincerely,

Siphamandla Marenene

Dear South Africa,

How do we start believing in ourselves?, if we start by tearing our soul apart?

Yes, she has won a gold medal we proud of her, but what are we doing to repair her soul that was torn apart by the world and her own people. If we say she is both sex then where do we categories her and what rights will she have access to. To me Caster you are a beautiful young woman , who now needs support from us. As we all know that a shepherd always takes cares of his/her own sheep and goats. That what we need to do is take care of her and try to make her gain her self-esteem.

Yours faithfully,

Mlamli Gadi

Dear Sir/Madam

As sensitive person, I have a problem when it comes to this situation. If Caster has bisexual hormones, isn’t her career going to vanish because she won’t be able to participate in both men and women events. I think as she has participated in the women events, she must not be
taken out but let her do her best because she has talent.

This thing, I am sure, isn’t only affecting her but the country as a whole. We must take this as a great gift from God. I am sure He knew what He was doing and He makes everyone unique because we can’t be all look the same.

Yours truly,

Siphe Mananga (Mr.)

Dear South Africa,

Here is a story of a young woman whose bright future has been taken away from her just because of a natural cause that even she cannot change or control.

People around the world including here in South Africa have done nothing but open up old wounds of her sexuality and take her self-confidence away from her.

All of us South Africans should just put ourselves in Caster Semenya’s shoes and feel her pain for just one minute, let’s not take a person’s life and turn it into a newspapers article. We should all just give her a break and give her a spiritual hug to comfort her and show her that we care. Instead of making her life miserable let’s just take one day to acknowledge her for her strength, because it takes a strong woman to be able to deal with such an inhumane experience.

South Africa, let’s just all give Caster Semenya a big hug.

Yours Faithfully,

Nanzi

Dear South Africa

We must understand the gift of Caster Semenye, if she is both genders then it’s a miracle after all the centuries that have passed.

We must learn to appreciate and if she has advantages then that’s our advantage as a country of South Africa. We not simply criticise other people but accept who they are because; for example Caster, she did not make herself like this (being both genders), if we push her away we will be faced with a problem because she will also not appreciate herself.

Yours Sincerely,

Sibuyiselo (Sbuja)

Dear South African

RE: She is what she wants to be.

Caster Semenya is a girl that has special abilities and she has a gift like anyone else in the world and that is the gift of running.

People, the press, the media, people from out of this country and people who call themselves ‘AFRICANS’ are discriminating against Semenya, abusing her rights of being an African.

Yes!!! I know that she has some other special hormones and abilities in her but why do we have to see her gift as a negative thing and we see the negative things about her talent. Why do we have to be jealous just because we do not have the talent that she has and that because in our lives we are not famous as she is. Why don’t we just be happy for her and be happy that she won for South Africa, and not just South Africa but OUR South Africa.

In my language, there is a saying: ‘UMNTU GUMNTU NGABANTU and many South Africans know about this saying and I also say that UMNTU NGUMNTU NGABANTU, especially those who you are close to. I can tell you that Semenya and South Africans are the only people that she is close to. Now we are discriminating against her, her family (South Africa) is the people who are among those who are discriminating her and they we are not ashamed of it.

South Africans, let us change our behaviours; if we do not support Caster, how do we expect the world to. When she meets other people /she will get even more hurt because we are the people that we did not comfort her first.

I end here by saying, as a South Africans let’s think of this: HOW WOULD IT FEEL WHEN YOUR FAMILY STARTED DISCRIMANTING YOU?

SHE IS WHAT SHE WANTS TO BE!!!!

Regards,

Yandisa Mtsotso

Everyone now is turning into a Rasta out there. The Rastafarian religion is becoming popular nowadays especially to the youngsters of South Africa. You now find your brother not eating meat and starting to wear the Rastafarian colours. Maybe if you are having a conversation he will start to talk about the great Haile Selassie because he calls himself a Rastafarian. Now the question is what attracts them in Rastafarism? Could it be the colours, the style, the dreadlocks, the rituals, the gatherings that they have, where they sing and do poetry or just maybe the fact that Rastas are spiritually using what they call the holy herb (marijuana or ganja)?

The Rastafarians have their god, Haile Selassie I, who died in 1975. The Rastafarians don’t believe that he died because they claim that there was never a grave for him. They recall that Selassie was the greatest mighty. The Rastafarians do not believe in schools either, because they believe that what you are being taught in schools is to fool you into seeing things the way you went suppose to see them. They also are against the law that allows people of the same sex to be involved with each other. They say that it’s the disgrace towards what the people were made for.

They have rituals that they do to praise their god, and also have a ritual called reasoning, whereby they sit in cycle and smoke ganja and they would sing their songs. We all know that rastas are known for their dreadlocks, they say that it symbolizes the link with Jah (god). Rastafarians are famous for smoking marijuana which is an illegal drug.

Now that’s where my worry comes in. Are those young people who are joining the rastafarism going after the use of marijuana, or are they really passionate about being rastas? When a child starts smoking ganja, his health and behavior get influenced badly, due to the smoking of ganja.

In my opinion I say that you can go and join the Rastafarians and be a part of them, because there is more fun in being a Rastafarian like their rituals and gatherings, whereby they sing to worship their God. You can also show your talent in poetry, but make sure that you do it for the love of it. Don’t do it for the fact that they smoke ganja because if you concentrate on that, you will not achieve in life.

During the past, in the apartheid era protests, street-burnings and school burnings were common; it was done when ever people were requesting something they were in need of from the Government. And the government would then attend to their needs as quickly as possible, thus satisfaction will be found inside their blameless hearts.

Lately, in the 15th of May 2009, my fellow neighbors demanded various services from the government which where basically consisting of the basic human rights in the accordance of the Legislation of South Africa. The first day of the strike, all government transportation was invaded, stoned and many vehicles burnt. As a result many innocent passengers got injured. It went on, other public transports were not allowed to pass on. They then started doing what lead to what I call ‘My communities misconception’. In a blink of an eye, over a distance of approximately 225 meters on the travel road, there were burning tires everywhere.

Cardboard, cans, papers and plastics were burnt; no public or private car would have been able to pass through that extremely dangerous fire, or in a more precise way ‘combustion’. Teachers say “combustion, is a process in which a substance reacts with oxygen to off heat and light”, in a more comprehensive way, combustion is the act of burning something to release heat and light and mostly gas. My neighbors performed this right next to their houses. They inhaled the toxic chemicals laden air, and that might lead to horrible illnesses that might take them to their last home.

The pictures alongside were taken vigilantly by me, Nkosikhona at six o’clock when the combustion process was commencing. The fire you perceive was made up by the burning of tires and plastic papers. The other effect (currently under investigation) caused by this act is called global-warming, that increments every time chemicals including carbon dioxide and sulphur are released to the atmosphere. Briefly, the chemicals will react with the oxygen atoms of the ozone, thus ozone depletion will occur. In addition, the ozone acts as a blanket for most momentously people who have photosensitive skin, polar bears, and as a result the harmful UV (Ultraviolet) light will pass through the ozone layer without getting absorbed or reduced, thus extinction will play its role.

As people continue burning substances, the diseases acquired through breathing in their smokes will not affect the government who fails to provide, but, interestingly, will affect the innocent citizens who are just protesting not aware of the consequences. What troubles me is the children playing right next the burning fire (if you looked closely you’ll see them at the pictures). At the end of the day, the government does nothing while the innocent people get infected by airborne diseases. The misconception I see in my community is that we think we are getting the attention from government and pointing our finger to them by burning substances, while -unwarily- we are burning our own fingers and future.

Misconceptions seem to exist, mostly -unwarily- on the side of the spectators or catalysts. Let me give you the example within politics. Let me first compare politics with sports: There are two main kinds of people in sport, those who play the game and know the difficulties of the game and those who watch the game and have assumptions/conclusions. Same applies in politics, there are politicians who studied political studies and members of parliament and there are those who are informed by the media about the results of the meeting held in parliaments.

South African political parties vary hugely. The parties are divided, one party wants votes and the other parties also want votes. The problem is that they want those votes from the very same people. The competition that emerges causes complete division. This division often results in violence and physical fighting.
If we look back at the political leaders: their different believes do not make them fight (physically). Politicians do have conflicts -obviously- but those conflicts are resolved (like Mandela insisted to do: weapon down pens up.) Politicians fight their fights using words not spheres and swords like in the past.

Now, I see that the majority of the people in my community hate each other because of being in different parties. During the manifestos for the 2009 national elections many people got serous injuries because they attended the manifesto of a certain party. One of the well known leaders in the community was gunned down, only because of his political choice. As a young person who watches news daily, I often ask myself: how many people died because of their political choices and how many more will? There are fewer cases of politicians being killed because of their political view, then followers being killed because of their political choice. It shows that people are fighting among themselves while the ones who created this chaos are free in their big houses living happy lives. Through all this, many people say it is life but I personally see it as a misconception.

In sport, players do fight sometimes when they provoked each other by mistake in the game. Most players are friends or relatives thus they do not really fight but in the game they fight like hell, not physically but through getting the ball and scoring the goals. After the game all players usually greet each other saying thing like, it was a good game you played well and e.t.c. If we look back again at the people in the communities -like my community-, the people go mad when their team wins or looses. They tend to use alcohol for celebrations or to escape their losses. They create conflicts if they favor different teams.

Please let me know if you see possibilities how to help reduce the misconceptions within my community.  Let me know if you want to help me address the issues and get the attention of people who are able to make a difference. Let’s do it for the children in the community and their future.

THANK YOU FOR TAKING YOUR VALUABLE TIME READING THROUGH THIS TEXT WRITTEN BY A YOUNG STAR LIVING IN SOUTH AFRICA. TAKE CARE. GOD BLESS.

As I walk down the streets of my community, turning a blind eye on poverty, rape that has taken over the community, not even noticing the 10 year old smoking weed in the street corner. All my eyes can see is the child wearing his old, tired uniform. When I look at the child I look back, thinking about the situation he comes from.

He leaves home hungry, didn’t have breakfast nor did he have supper the previous night. But he’s not hungry for food, he’s not in need for money, all he is hungry for, in need is education, he’s driven by his passion for education. He wakes up everyday with a choice of either joining his mates on the street corner and also smoke weed but he sees himself making the same decision everyday, the decision of going to school, and empowering himself with education.

He doesn’t use his background or the fact that he has no clue whether someone will ever notice how hungry he is for education and offer him money for varsity. His situation is what drives him, what makes him strive for more. What he is today is the main thing that is driving him to do better everyday so he can have a brighter future, so he can get himself out of the situation he is in today. If our country had millions of people like this, can one imagine what the future would be like?

On the picture are two inspiring men; Ephraim and Tiaan. Tiaan lives in the homestead (a home for boys who would otherwise be living on the streets) Ephraim used to stay there as well. Ephraim inspired Tiaan to attend school. The temptation for Tiaan is high, not to go to school. Other boys go out on the street, begg for money, get high on drugs…..Tiaan is trying to focus on going to school. Just like Ephraim, he will be a rolemodel to other boys and not sell out on his dream.