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 ...

Dear South Africa, 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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Greetings all! What a blessing to sit again with sober young minds, unpacking the messages of Black Consciousness activist Steve Bantu Biko. Biko once said, 'The blacks are tired of standing at the touchlines to witness a game that they should be playing.' We spoke about Biko's message of self-love and they spoke extensively about what constitutes to their self-love - and in most cases 'what makes them hate themselves'. They found some encouragement to lead in overcoming the struggle young people with self-love, self-esteem and self-confidence - necessary tools for them to be who they were truly meant to be (beautiful, passionate, conscious citizens of a highly progressive country). Enjoy!

Mlamli: 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 ...

The following text is from our new online content mentor: Nonkululeko Godana. Find her online bio here at the 'about us' section On a Saturday afternoon... Was met with warm embrace by young strangers, who I'd later find would nestle in a place quite special in my heart. I was welcomed by the (ground)breaking voice of a gifted opera-enthusiast, a helpful hand - oozing of good manners and charm (offered to get me lunch). Sweet faces that allowed to be shy in front of them. I humbled myself to them upon experiencing the knowledge they possess. A profound scent of innocence fills their opinions. So, we got to working on the BRT issues (an agenda they came up with - all on their own). They unravelled the social issues, right down to wrestling with the intricate political ones. Debate ensued. Conclusions made. Solutions provided. A podcast was born. Not without incredible amazement on my part -how they voiced the podcast and - with very little guidance (they didn't really need it) edited and finalised the podcast. I read their stories. I sense there exists a potent past and present in each one of them that makes them no ordinary kids. They are kids with, ...

South Africa has recently experienced an issue involving politics in sports. Caster Semenya recently won gold in the women's 800m race at the world championships in Berlin. After she won there was an inquiry into her gender. Political groups have claimed that this is racist. Today we'll be debating the place of politics in sport. Samuel he'll be supporting politicians involvement in sports. Ephraim thinks there is no place for politics in sports and politicians use sports for their own means. We would love to hear your point of views and find out which side wins the debate.

When FIFA announced that South Africa will host the World Cup everyone was happy, Nelson Mandela was even happier. Somebody asked me: "Siphe, why do you think he is this happy". My response was that he was the man that stood up against racism. Sport is now helping fighting racism. Firstly, I would like to have a look at some positive views that South Africans have, on why we should care about the 2010. This 2010 soccer project is making our country beautiful, through the building of new hotels, roads and bridges. For example we are having something that we never had before: the GAUTRAIN. Stadiums and train tracks will last for a long time and create history and beauty. During the FIFA Confederations Cup, Bafana Bafana did very well and every citizen was happy that our team went through the semi-finals. I think we should say: "Thank you Mr Santana", because he did a great job improving the team's style and confidence. The players committed themselves to making their supporters and citizens proud. Proud of the country that we live in, instead of ashamed of our country because it's always losing. The soccer world cup is giving South Africa a chance to proof ...

The question we answer in this weeks podcast is: 'Do you think that South Africa will benefit from hosting the 2010? and how?' On the show you'll hear the different perspectives from young (black) South Africans. What is your point of view? listen to ours here: Journalist Klaas Deknatel started an online initiative Zuidafrika2010.net (in Dutch) which prepares the 2010 fans for all soccer related and non-soccer related facts and actualities about South Africa. Klaas was interested to publish something on his website about the 2010 Vocab. He was part of the debate that was held post the recording of the podcast and during the creation of the podcast itself. His report about the 2010 Vocab can be found here (in Dutch).