The online volunteering website http://www.nabuur.com (initiated in The Netherlands) and Studentsforhumanity are cooperating in an exciting cultural exchange (through online media) project. Pelle from Nabuur reports about the first Dutch student meeting (which unfortunately wasn’t so successful):

Despite the beautiful scenery and the wonderful location in the city of Utrecht, the first Dutch StudentsforHumanity meeting was not very successful.

Due to the snowfall, people were advised not to travel by train. As a result, none of the students made it to the venue for the meeting.

As most of you are enjoying your holidays right now, this should be a good time to get a few things started however. Therefore:

1. Please send in 3 questions that you would like to ask the South African students

2. We’ll have our own blog at studentsforhumanity.com. All we need is a name. Of course we could go by the name Nabuur, but you may have better ideas. BE CREATIVE

3. Next to a name, we could also change our logo. Frerieke told me that the African student on the page can easily be changed with another image. Any ideas?

4. I still think it would be good to meet: to get to know each other, to exchange ideas and to have a flying start. Please indicate:

- if (and when) you are available to meet next week (28 – 31 dec)

- if the meeting is postponed until ‘next year’, which days are usually best

Hope to meet you all soon.

In the meantime: do send in your brilliant ideas, enjoy the pictures and happy holidays!

Pelle

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!!!

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

Hi, my name’s Daria. I’m 23 years old Ukrainian girl. I love smiling,
reading books, learning new things, traveling all around the world
and universe. In fact, I’m an ordinary girl and I have a gigantic
dream-to become a translator and help people understand each other and
live in peace and harmony. And I strongly hope to achieve my goals.
But there is one thing that I will never be able to do- I’ll never be
able use my legs and hands the way people of my age do…

I am the first and very beloved child of my amazing parents. They are
my great supporters. My parents were looking forward to having a baby
but the day of my birth turned into a nightmare for them. The first
words my mom heard from the doctors were “Your daughter has no eyes
and you should better leave her at the nursing home for disabled
people, as  she’s like a vegetable and you shouldn’t sacrifice  your
life because of such a child”…You can only imagine my mom’s horror
after such terrible statements. Although she was lost for words but in
her heart she knew that she would never leave her daughter…Some hours
later it turned out that I did have normal eyes but there was
something wrong with my legs and arms. I was diagnosed with a very
rare illness known as ‘arthrogryposis’. That means that my arms,
fingers and legs are severely affected. My hips and arms are
dislocated so I can’t unbend my knees and even stand straight. My
fingers are not flexible and can’t bend at all and I can’t stretch my
arms. Additionally I’ve got clubbed feet. According to the doctors my
case was a real can of worms! J I mean the disability I was born with
is not curable…But my parents never lost hope that with some surgeries
I’d have a chance to straighten my legs and arms. So, I had to undergo
many painful surgeries and therapies. I must admit some of the
massages really did a miracle to me –the flexibility of my hands did
improved but unfortunately all these medical experiments just left
scares on my legs and soul…

Till the age of three I was examined and treated by several different
hospitals and God knows what my dear mom had to go through to have
this right to give me some treatment (She had to look after other
children in the hospital, so I could be treated free of charge). After
each surgery I had new plasters on my legs which prevented me from
movement and hurt me terribly…And one day when we came back home from
the hospital and after my non-stopping weeping because of the pain
caused by the plasters my mom couldn’t stand it anymore and removed
them from me forever….

Doctors predicted me to be able for nothing but God had other plans
for me….Little by little while growing I learnt to use my legs in my
own way- now I can move quite successfully –even though it might look
very funny for you-I walk with my bent knees, clubbed feet and I’d
call it ‘walking in a squat position’. I can’t stand and walk like
that for a long time but at least such self-made skill allows me to
feel myself more independent, moving around my house and yard. My
dislocated joints prevented my body from a normal growth; therefore
I’m a very tiny and short girl…J  I’m a bit taller than one meter. At
first glance my fingers are unable to do anything-but they can do
perfectly everything for me- I dress myself, pick up all the things,
carry my books, write with a pen, draw pictures and typing here for
you this message….My parents have always taught me to focus on the
abilities I’ve got instead of feeling pity for myself. My disability
hasn’t built a wall for me-I’ve always been surrounded by many good
and true friends who always stand by me and never let me feel
‘different’. Sometimes they confess that at the beginning they were
rather confused with my ‘being different’ but just a few moments after
talking to me-they never saw my disability. To be honest, I hate the
word ‘disabled’ as I don’t consider myself to be so!  When I go
outside with my wheelchair I don’t bother myself with a thought that
other people might stare at me and the way they accept me….I learnt
not to notice those starring eyes and silly remarks forwarding my
way….I accept myself the way God made me and even though there are
some moments when I do feel myself frustrated I am grateful to Him for
creating me this way….

I received my school education at home because there were no special
facilities for me at our local village school. So, school teachers
came to me every day during 11 years and did their very best to make
an educated lady out of me. So, after finishing my school and being
awarded a gold medal for good achievements in studies, I made up my
mind to enter the university…

Just some years before I got my school diploma, I was blessed with a
friend who changed my life forever-the Peace Corps volunteer Joel
Wheeler who voluntarily worked as a teacher of the English language in
our local school.  He was introduced to my family and lived with us
for several months. For two years he had lived in our village, he’s
became not just a friend for me, but a great teacher as well as a
member of my family. He inspired me  to study English (before his
arriving at my life I barely could say some English phrases like ‘how
are you?’) and realize my vocation- to become a translator…Nowadays I
can’t imagine my life without languages as they open the world for me
as well as help me find many friends all around the world. Nowadays
I’m a student of the Private Classic University and study translation.
I can speak English and German. I’ve already obtained my Bachelor’s
degree and these days I’m preparing to start my final year of studies
and get my Master’s degree. I’m a part-time student, what means I
attend my university only once a week (usually every Saturday) and
every day during my exam periods (around three weeks twice a year).
And even though there is no lift and hundreds of endless stairs, my
mom assists me so much to get around there….She simply carries me in
her arms along the long staircases, sometimes we have to climb up to
the 6th floor…But in spite of all these challenges I have to face
every single day-I am very determined student and optimistic person. I
prefer to make my obstacles my opportunities.  My life motto is ‘hope
without any hope’….Even it might seem like life treats me cruelly
sometimes, I’m open for people around and my greatest dream is to
change this world for better. I know I can’t make myself tall, I will
never be able to dance, to wear high heels and run but I also know
that I’m able to make difference in some peoples’ minds…Real happiness
is not measured by your heights or  looks but how much happy you make
feel people around you. And even if there is a thunderstorm in your
life sometimes, don’t forget that there is always the sun behind the
dark clouds…

I am Iran Masebeni and I live in Cape Town in a big township called khayelitsha I live with my Aunt, half sister, 2 cousin sisters, 1 cousin brother my Uncle with his 2 children. I am currently doing grade 11 in COSAT (Centre Of Science And Technology).

When I was young living with my mom never knowing who my father was, calling everyone who comes in to my mother’s life my “father” so at that time I was around the age of 5. I tried to ask my mother that , who is my Father , but she would always ignore as if she didn’t hear me but all of that to me it seemed as if she doesn’t care

if I know him or not.

MY STORY BEGINS!!!!

Once lived a boy whose name is Iran in a very big family of 10 people that his grandma, mom, his mom’s twin sister, his mom’s twin sister had 4 children his mother 3. This was the house of joy nothing was ever wrong. They were not rich, actually , they were poor but that did not stop them because each and every time they would look after each other in hard times they would always look up to God.

That was not enough for where they lived that is in the Eastern Cape in a not so small town called Nqgamakhwe in Mngcangcatelo that place some like to call it “where witches originate” or “hell” but I would like to call it “Devil

at the fullest” trust me without protection you may not come back or if

it happens you come back just prays God for keeping you safe. Ok as I was saying, this family it happened that the happiness was destroyed for ever and was never brought back. The family was gone from the oldest to the least, one by one, going to the grave, year after year, plus the relatives of this family.

It may seem as a lie but I for one wish that you were there to eye witness this tragedy. This family it was destroyed, why? Because of it was so loving and caring towards other people in the village. The witches felt as if this family deserves to die and even some of the relatives they hated the love that this family had.

In 1998 died the grandmother, 1999 died the boys mom’s twin, 2000 his mom, 2001 at the beginning of the year the boy’s mother’s husband but the boys father because he didn’t know him it was the father of the other 2 children making them the boys half brother and sister . 2001 in the middle his Uncle died. Then the relatives followed one after the other. It was a chaos.

Before the boys mother died whilst she was still sick it was in 2000 after her twin sister died she could not support all of them she decided to give them to other relatives to help raising and do chores around the house so it began. Iran was sent with his half brother and sister to a relative whose name is Nomabanlda she was an old person living alone. But Iran’s half brother lived next door of where Iran and his half sister lived. Iran’s brother lived in a house of a school principal and he was give every thing he wanted or did not have, the food was so delicious, he ate meat almost everyday. On the other hand the other two never had any from when they arrived till when they left. Iran was a boy who was deeply loved by his mother. She did everything she could for him because she knew that her husband will never accept Iran as his own.

To be continued!!!!!!

Do you have a life when you don’t have confidence, don’t believe in your self and when you have a low self esteem? This a question that we need to ask our self as people and as a nation. We as nation have struggled in the past but we don’t realize that we are still struggling. We are not struggling as a nation, we are struggling to gain confidence. We do not gain confidence if we don’t encourage,

love and care for one another, we would have a better nation were we as the people stand together to create a better South Africa. So by giving someone words of encouragement each day, you are making a difference in someone else life. All we need is support and we need to start believing in our self. The change is not in the government it is in us we need to change our selves to make our country better.

Mfundo:

The One.

I woke up one day asking myself if am I the one,

The one who is recognized by the world,

The one who sets goals and achieves them,

The one who wakes up every morning knowing his ambitions

The one who is the one.

Many things happened in my life,

People discriminated and took my courage away from me,

For once in my life I despair,

I thought God has turned His back on me,

I cried every now and then,

Crying for hope and recognition,

I cried to be the one.

I thought my voice was not heard,

The guys on the street corner teased me and made me feel their negativity around me,

People have always been a load on my shoulders

I then realized that it was time to stand on my bare feet and build my confidence from Scratch,

Because I knew that I was the one.

Living on the negative atmosphere that made me not to recognize my mission of living really was,

My confidence needed my attention and this time I was committed to give it all,

My confidence blocked my ears and when they came and made their negative comments I couldn’t hear them,

It was then that I realized that I’m unique,

It was then that I realized that I started living my life the way I liked,

It was then that I realized that I am the one.

Sbuja:

Being a person you have certain characteristics and you are unique, but being a unique person you can not love your whole body. There are certain parts of your body that you don’t mind people teasing you about,  because you have accepted them. There are also things that you don’t like to be teased about. I like my big hands and i don’t mind to being teased about them because i love them but when you tease me about my head then I get a very low self-esteem and at the same time I get very angry about it. I have a low self-esteem because i was teased about my head for almost three years and it convinced me that i do have big a head, even though i didn’t notice before. This lead to me being angry at my own self and that is why i am like this now not able to have questions but accept what is being offered.

Tasch:

Dear you

Here I am listening to what you are saying. Is it going to build me and make me a better person? Is it going to make me look at the mirror and listen to that small voice which already made cracks around my foundation?

I’m being interrogated by you, where you make me doubt my self-love, I see myself as a no-body. Where the crops of hurt starts being planted and few more words get involve then the hurt explodes directly to me. You are the detective who supposes to use your power to protect me but you just using your power to destroy me, starve me by not sharing positive things but only sketching the nightmare of being inferior to others.

I have been brutally abused by what comes out of your mouth.

Hey! Be careful of what you are saying because you are striking a rock. Remember “Wathinta abafazi wathinta imbokodo”, I am neither inferior nor superior but I am me.

FIND THE INNER BEAUTY AMOUNG YOUR SELF AND TELL THAT LITTLE VOICE TO CALL IN 400 YRS TIME.”

Apihwe:

be careful if you make a woman cry because god counts her tears

a woman comes out of a man’s rib, not from his feet to be walked

not from his head to be superior, but under his arm to be protected

next to his heart to be loved.

These words come down from the deepest of my heart

I’m just comparing the nowadays; because a woman used to have no value.

The reason why i wrote this poem is because i want to encourage people not to be let down by negative comments

all you need to do is just believe in yourself and look at yourself and take the mirror and say “this person that I’m seeing in the mirror

is beautiful and i love him/her” and just forget about what people say about you.

Mkuseli:

Why Am I Hating My Self?

Is it the way I look?

Is it the way that other people see me

Where can I improve?

Where can I correct my self?

Where did I go wrong?

God created me the way I am.

Now I have to accept it

There is no recipe for me to fix myself

I have to accept it!!!

Comments that come from other people really affect the way you think and feel

There is this saying in the Bible “Tongs have a power over everything “

that means with just speaking you can hurt other peoples feelings

Nosizwe:

Words like bullets

Kill myself esteem in seconds

Destroy me as if i’m a house with no proper foundation.

I know people will always have something to say about me

Just like a car knows a dog will always run after it

But it never stops going until it gets to where it’s going

Why is it different with me?

If your words can destroy me

Don’t you think they can also empower me, build me?

Why not put your energy into something useful

Your words go thru me just like the sun

Goes through a crystal

If you’ve got nothing better to say about me

SHUT UP!

If you don’t like who I am change your attitude towards me

If you can’t

Stay out of my way because I am not going anywhere

Ephraim:

Comrades like Steve Biko represent African unity. They strived for continental integration. Unfortunately they were unable to see that dream come true. We must be really glad that they showed us the way. Let’s walk to honor those gentlemen. There is an emerging need for African governments not to allow legislations that would make life difficult for other Africans. Let our vision be: the united states of Africa!!

By Ntombie Ntuntum

The website has been an inspiration to me, to read about other learners story and to learn things about how they feel about their community, how they see things in this world. But I’d love to know what other teens (except us students for humanity members) are seeing the world that we live in. It’s quite interesting to see passion of writing about their life. I like the fact that we also educating people how to communicate in Xhosa, I think it would be fun if we could all know how to speak our 11 official languages, imagine I speaking Venda don’t you think?

By Siphe Mananga

I just want to communicate with the students around the world and let my voice be heard. Let people know what as the students of South Africa are doing to encourage other youth and share our views on politics, sport and education. The thing I want is to learn the most important things, because not everybody knows it all no matter how wise you are. I want to be able to teach, be a leader and make I can serve the community on what I have in hand. I want the site to enable students and people to be free on sharing their personal issues and be confident to speak out.

By Ephraim Ntlamo

Students for Humanity for me means a lot, it empowers me to be a consious citizen of my community. I also think students for humanity is a good way to enable youth to assume leadership roles. Within our communities and on the African continent, youth are disregarded in decision making.
In my personal view, Students for Humanity will give African youth the skills and confidence to speak up in order to ensure that our needs are met.

By Mfundo Nomnabo

Students for humanity is a youth organisation, in South Africa, that connect youth of SA with the people around the globe, in terms of story writing. In this website one have a chance to express his/her feelings about life, things around them, etc. through this website. These stories motivate and encourage the viewers all around the world. For me being part of this website is one in a life time experience and I take myself so fortunate that have this opportunity to be a member of “Students for humanity” and I see “Students for humanity” as a very successful website in the future.

By Nosizwe Gxalatana

The website is an inspiration to me, its an opportunity for me to inspire and get inspired. It’s a place where I can get my voice heard and not be judged, where people get to judge what I say not where I come from o what I look like. A door way to communication with people I could not reach no even in my dreams. It’s a adventure one that I get to learn a lot while going thru it.

We all want to be accepted, to be loved, but sometimes we take things to the extreme. We do things we wouldn’t normally do, just so we can feel accepted, loved and most of all needed. But is it worth it?

When seeking for someone’s attention, hungry for their love and in need for the person to notice you, you end up doing things you wouldn’t normally do even if you are asleep. Trying to get the persons attention becomes an obsession, an addiction. You stop caring for yourself, give no attention to your actions and how they will affect you. Your mind stops thinking about everything else and everyone around you, all you can think of is, what else you can do to satisfy your addiction.

Your life stops being your own, you live for someone else. Not aware of how you are not paying any attention to yourself and how much you’ve stopped serving yourself. How much you’ve lost control of your own life. You don’t notice this, to yourself you are just living a normal life, and your addiction doesn’t even exist.

What will it take for you to realize you’ve lost control of your own life? The brain that you once controlled and owned is no longer functioning the same way it used to. You’ve stopped living for yourself; you are living for someone else.

“If you have it flaunt it” But how do you begin flaunting it if it’s the one thing between you and your happiness, the one thing between you and your dream? How do you flaunt the one thing you hate about yourself?

I’m roughly 46 kilograms, 1.6 meters tall, I hate having to go to the scale. Hate everyone who makes positive comments about my body. People comment about it almost everyday telling its ‘sexy, beautiful and they would love to have it’. Every time people make the comments I just put a smile on my face and pretend to be grateful for their comments. Hiding what I really feel.

Every time I see an advert on the television about how one can loose weight, be lighter, basically have what I have, tears, anger, hatred pile up inside. I ask myself why they have to talk about the one thing I dream about as if its trash, as if having it is a sin. I stare at the screen dreaming about how I would look if I were the one who had that weight.

I’ve tried everything I can think of in order to gain some weight but nothing works, for me. I always end up with the same size as before. I go to bed every night with the same dream: gaining some weight. Then wake up in the morning only to realize that it was just a dream, just like I always do every morning.

Every night I go to bed I don’t want to fall asleep because I don’t want to dream about the same thing as last night. Every morning I don’t want to open my eyes I’m still the same person I was yesterday. I don’t want to see anyone because if I do I have to put on a mask (smile) every time someone looks at me, so that they don’t see how I really feel inside.

I’m not going to lie I’ve thought about committing suicide, most of the times I think about it. What is the use of living a life you don’t want to live? What’s the point of being the one person you hate the most in this world? Why torture myself? I could end this, leave it all behind and go to the most peaceful place ever, I thought.

But hey I’m still living, but with mountains of anger, piles and piles of hatred inside me. Rivers of tears flood up inside me, still. I still dream, I still fear entering my dream world, fear living my own life. Still questioning my existence, still have to wear a mask before I see anyone. Most of all I still want to end it all. But I haven’t, what am I still doing in this world? I still have the same questions I had since, I don’t remember when. HOW DO I FLAUNT IT IF I DON’T WANT IT?

My name is Siphenathi Xashimba but most people call me Sam. I live in a township near Cape Town called Khayelitsha. I’m currently in grade 11 in the Centre Of Science And Technology (COSAT). I live with my grandmother, mother, sister and niece. My father and my older brother both passed away. I’m going to tell you about my experience in the dangerous streets of Khayelitsha and how I lost my friend.
The streets are always dirty and smelly. There are shacks which are built close to one another and there is poverty every you go. But those are not the problems that can take a persons life. CRIME that is most serious problem in my community which I feel like it needs to be stopped on matter what. People die each and every day, killed by gangsters and its either they are shot or stabbed.
I have been robbed many times and luckily never stabbed or shot at. I have always stayed away from places where I feel uncomfortable at and also stayed away where I see trouble approaching. Teenagers are the ones that do most of the crime in my community but they never kill, it is the adults that carry the illegal guns around and kill my people.
This year I lost a close friend who was only 14 years old. He was making himself some food to eat when his older brother entered the room with a gun in his hand. He waved the gun around but didn’t shoot, he gave me the gun so I could see how it feels I felt the gun and handed it over to him. He kept on playing with the gun until he shot his brother, my friend on the head and apparently he died on the spot. After I saw him fall on the ground and with blood dashing out of his head, I just automatically ran away. I was confused about what had happened and I escaped the scene because it was my first seeing someone get shot in front of my eyes. Later that day I heard news that my dead friend’s older brother also shot himself after he had shot my friend.