On 2 September, Afrika Tikkun’s Wings of Life Diepsloot centre and PlantNation led a greening programme with a group of young people eager to incorporate environmental protection and sustainable solutions into youth development.
The teams discussed the importance of farming and planting, including the contribution trees make to air quality and clean climate. The group sharpened their practical skills too, learning how to start and maintain a garden. At the end of the day, 80 new trees beautified the centre. This action of planting trees, impactful at local level, is also in line with a larger, global movement to plants billions of trees worldwide in order to revert de-forestation. Increasingly, young people are demanding more concrete action on climate change, as evidenced by the upcoming September 2019 climate strike in cities across the world, including Johannesburg and Cape Town. We support these voices that call for a greener, healthier future where young people can realise their educational and economic potential.
“We are seeding the revolution one tree at a time,” said David Jaffe from PlantNation, an organisation that educates people to not only earn a living but grow one too.
PlantNation and Afrika Tikkun hopes this initiative will encourage communities around Diepsloot and the people in South Africa more broadly, to plant kratom and take greater care about the environment. The 80 planted trees will be carefully maintained and cared for by the community of the Diepsloot centre. Those trees are just the beginning for a broader movement towards a greener South Africa, and more trees and plants are being planned to be planted at Afrika Tikkun’s centres.
Would you like to participate in the next environmental projects with Afrika Tikkun? Sign up for receiving news or contact us here.
Radial Path today announces a partnership with Afrika Tikkun, a South African NGO working to reduce poverty in South African townships.
Radial Path, which otherwise specialises in tech and telecommunications, is donating time and resources to the charity, helping its marketing department drive campaigns, spread awareness, and increase donations to invest in South Africa’s next generation.
Afrika Tikkun works to empower young adults, particularly those in underprivileged communities, and encourage economic development.
CEO and Founder of Radial Path, Ruth Plater, said: “The work that Afrika Tikkun does with young people and disadvantaged communities in Africa is incredible. I’m really excited that Radial Path gets to play a part in supporting the work they do in developing the health and education of young people in Africa.
“We work in the region [Africa] with digital infrastructure businesses who are typically looking to advance regional development through technology, but this is an excellent opportunity for us to support the region from another angle–through working with charities such as Afrika Tikkun.”
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Afrika Tikkun Strategy, Partnerships and Communications Group Executive, Onyi Nwaneri, said: “We are thrilled to be working with Radial Path and Kona Kratom and are already benefiting from their experience and expertise in marketing, as well as with new technologies.
“Radial Path has brought new ideas and a fresh perspective to our work. Our small marketing team is really appreciating the additional hands to help, and our processes are already more efficient. With Radial Path’s help, we’ve already begun refining, changing, and optimising some of our internal operations.
“When less time and resources are spent on internal operations, we can allocate more helping young people. I hope that Afrika Tikkun and Radial Path continue working together on many exciting projects in the future.”
This year marks a quarter of a century since the birth of democracy in South Africa. How far have we come since then?
According to sources such as the World Bank and the World Economic Forum (WEF) South Africa has the second largest economy in Africa and one of the most diversified, technologically advanced and integrated economies on the African continent. We are classed as an upper-middle-income country and we remain a favoured destination for investment in Africa, acting as an important gateway for business throughout the continent. Yet, South Africa is an anomaly among developing countries as it boasts great infrastructure and investment opportunities somewhat marred by social and economic problems.
In general, there is a sense of freedom and equality, and yet there is still so much to be done. Although the democracy that today’s youth are born into is vastly different to the world their predecessors grew up in twenty-five years ago, the reality is that life remains harsh for most South Africans. Can you imagine living without hope? Well, for millions of South Africans there’s no need to imagine… and this is precisely why the combined effects of government, corporate and NGO interventions are essential.
We asked a couple of our young people at Afrika Tikkun – who share a birthday with South Africa’s democracy – how they feel about the state of our nation and their future prospects. To be expected, we received varying responses – where some see a failing economy others acknowledge the process of rehabilitation; where some see government as a hotbed of corruption, others do not.
Tsholofelo Molokwane says that in general, “We are all equal and have access to quality basic education. We have a lot more opportunities and we’re able to choose our own career paths”.
Thabiso Mnisi says that she’s very grateful for our democracy because she will not have to experience the same challenges and difficulties that people used to. “My life is already better compared to that of my parents and grandparents because I have more opportunities and support than they did getting through life’s challenges”, but in saying this Mnisi also touches on the country’s leadership, “I feel that we have not yet started rebuilding and improving our country to its full potential because we’re still dwelling on the past. I believe that South Africa has the potential to become one of the top countries in the world and for that we need leaders who will help build a well-developed nation”.
Continuing the topic of leadership, Phamela Dlamini says, “Our lives are very different now than our parents years ago. Our voices have been recognised and systemic racism no longer exists like it did with our parents. But I don’t have much confidence in the state of our nation. As long as people keep violating the rights of our constitution, South Africa will continue to be a dangerous country and our poor economy will affect the next generation”.
On this, Lebohang Rametse adds, “I feel like our government is not investing in us as the future leaders of South Africa. We are educated and we’ve graduated but still most of us are unemployed. I even feel guilty for wasting my parent’s money sending me to college, I should have taken that money to invest in my future or start my own business”.
Neliphiwe Mbhaswana also commented, “Although there is a huge difference between my life and my parents, I don’t feel good about the state of the nation because there have been a lot of empty promises. Hopefully over the next 25 years the future of the country will get better and tertiary education will be free so that more people can have the skills needed for employment”.
Recognising what is needed for the fourth industrial revolution Zandile Mthethwa says, “I’m confident that we have a great and humble president who is the perfect ambassador for the country, and with the current focus on technology I believe that the next 25 years will see South Africa become more technologically advanced and ready for the changing work space”.
On a positive note Busisiwe Mzalamba says, “I’m happy that our democracy provides equal freedom, rights and opportunities for all our people now. I believe that the country is changing for the better and I see a much more developed country in our future”. And Thelma Mwale adds, “I consider myself lucky to have been born and raised during this beautiful era of liberation and reconciliation in South Africa where I have an opportunity to open doors my parents could not access before. I do recognise the challenges we still face as a country, but I appreciate the direction our country has taken post-Apartheid. This year was my first time voting at the national election and I felt so proud to be a South African because I know that generations fought to give me this opportunity. South Africa is a country full of so many possibilities and the future of our country is exciting”.
In the 25 years since Afrika Tikkun was first established, it has brought impactful and lasting change to tens of thousands of young South Africans. Throughout those 25 years the organisation has provided aid to 28,000 children aged two to six, a further 62,500 school going children aged seven to eighteen and has focused on preparing and upskilling young employable adults aged eighteen to twenty-five. In addition, the organisation has assisted a total of 75,000 families; provided primary healthcare services to more than 480,000 individuals and served more than 20 million meals. All of this has been made possible through Afrika Tikkun’s award-winning Cradle to Career 360˚ model, which oversees all aspects of an individual’s development from early childhood to adulthood. But Afrika Tikkun is just one of many compassionate organisations trying to assist the most vulnerable of South Africa’s society.
In the words of Afrika Tikkuns Patron-in-Chief, Mr. Nelson Mandela, “What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead”.
Years later and Afrika Tikkun is a fully-fledged not-for-profit company and organisation with public benefit status, still living up to the inspiring ideologies of Tata Madiba with the simple goal of providing a helping hand and supporting the goal of sustainably eradicating child poverty and youth unemployment in our lifetime. We live the philosophy of ‘Ubuntu’ – that of compassion, kindness, sharing and community – transforming words into actions.
Now, as the organisation celebrates its silver anniversary, Afrika Tikkun looks forward to opening the door of hope for many of South Africa’s young people, giving them the chance not only to dream but to turn those dreams into a reality in the new South Africa.
Chapter 2 of South Africa’s Constitution includes the highly comprehensive and inclusive Bill of Rights, arguably one of the most progressive in the world today, and yet we are not without stumbling blocks to fulfilling all the aspects set out within it. As such, many NGO’s across the country work with government and the private sector to assist the Bill of Rights come to fruition for all South Africans.
The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) reports in their 2016/2017 Trend Analysis[1] that “in the five-year period from 2011/ 2012 – 2015/ 2016 human rights complaints and enquiries rose from 8,149 to 9,238. The highest number of human rights’ violations reported to the Commission was in the category of equality where between 2014/15 and 2015/16 equality complaints jumped from 493 to 749, representing an increase of 34%. In addition, socio-economic rights have consistently been in the top five complaints reported to the Commission, and between 2015/16 and 2016/17 increased drastically from 428 to 631 – an increase of more than 30%”. More significantly, “when these complaints (631) are taken together with other socio-economic rights’ complaints relating to housing (297) and education (289), the total number of socio-economic rights complaints (1,217) exceeds equality complaints (705)”.
Our Bill of Rights stipulates the everyone has the right to life, the right to equality before the law, the right to have their dignity respected and protected, the right to freedom and security, the right to freedom of religion and opinion, the right to a basic education, the right to an environment that is not harmful to their health or well-being, and the right to have access to health care services, sufficient food and water; and social security.
More importantly for us at Afrika Tikkun are the rights of children, the most vulnerable of our society: every child has the right to family or parental care, or to appropriate alternative care; to basic nutrition, education, shelter, health care services and social services; to be protected from maltreatment, neglect or abuse; and to be protected from exploitative labour practices; to freedom and security.
Do you see how that word ‘freedom’ keeps popping up? Possibly more so than adults, children need freedom. The guarantee of security, a stable environment and care enables children the freedom to learn, play and grow as individuals, which in turn encourages problem solving, self-reliant, capable and responsible adults. The freedom to express themselves and have opinions inspires confidence and a positive sense of self.
That said, in the 2017 Child Gauge by the Children’s Institute of the University of Cape Town[2] it was reported that one in three children will experience sexual or physical abuse before the age of eighteen. And more recently, Parliament heard from the Minister of Police, Bheki Cele, that 99% of children in South Africa have experienced or witnessed violence, and that 41% of all reported rape cases in the last three years have been of children.
Further, the 2018 Child Gauge[3] notes that South Africa has very high rates of child poverty. “In 2017, 65% of children lived below the upper-bound poverty line… and 36% of children were below the food poverty line, meaning that they were not getting enough nutrition”. They talk about “glaring racial disparities in income poverty: while 72% of African children lived in poor households in 2017, 45% of Coloured children were defined as poor, only 2% of White children lived below this poverty line”. In terms of employment, education and training – according to the Quarterly Labour Force Survey for Q2 of 2018 released by Statistics South Africa[4], “Of the 20,2 million young people in South Africa aged 15-34 years in the second quarter of 2018, 39,3% were not in employment, education or training (NEET) – an increase by 0,4 of a percentage point compared to the second quarter of 2017. The NEET rate increased for black African males and white males… The female NEET rate was higher than that of their male counterparts for all population groups.”
This is not freedom for the children of our nation… who we say are our future and the hope of the nation.
Afrika Tikkun is one of a network of organisations working to make SA a better place, protecting the rights of children and young people, and lending support to enable them develop into young adults with the education, skills and value based attitude that gives them the ability to access the economy in real time. We aim to economically empower young people through our Cradle to Career 360° model from early childhood development through to job placement and beyond. Moreover, we offer outreach and support services to children of all ages with programmes such as nutrition and food security, health care, gender-based violence and child abuse programmes, family support and an empowerment programme for children and families living with disabilities.
At our five centres of excellence in Gauteng and Western Cape we have over 12,000 registered young people every year who each receive a comprehensive set of services designed to propel them into success, and we provide additional services to over 10,000 beneficiaries on ad-hoc interventions. In 2018, 2,102 vulnerable families received psycho-social support; 2,206 received primary healthcare services; 659 families of children with disability were supported; 1,381,572 meals were served; 2,143 food parcels were distributed to families in need; 941 kilograms of food was harvested from vegetable gardens; and we handled 57 child protection cases. We also advocate for the rights of women and children, freedom of speech, empowerment and child protection throughout the year with campaigns such as Memeza Bazokuzwa.
All of this in an effort for the children of South Africa to be productive citizens of the future. If we want the country to grow, we have to acknowledge the human rights of all its inhabitants and work together to ensure their safety, freedom, economic advancement and well-being. It takes a village to raise a child.
Are the human rights of children really that important? Yes, if we want our children to become the next generation of economically active South African citizens, we need to understand that their capacity to be the best they can be starts first through the acceptance and recognition of their human rights.
March was Human Rights Month with the 21st a recognised public holiday commemorating the sacrifices made by South Africans in the struggle for democracy. Not only acknowledged in SA, people around the world are constantly talking about human rights and there is a day specifically earmarked by the United Nations (UN) to celebrate just this – International Human Rights Day is on December 10th every year.
But why are human rights so important? I’m sure that many will agree, we live in difficult times; and because of this, human rights guarantee people their basic needs, freedom and protection against abuse so that they can take full advantage of opportunities for a better life. For young people this includes their right to association with both parents, human identity, as well as the basic needs for physical protection, food, universal state-paid education, health care, freedom from discrimination on the basis of race, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, religion, disability, colour, ethnicity etc ; being physically, mentally and emotionally free from abuse, care and nurturing.
Chapter 2 of South Africa’s Constitution includes the highly comprehensive and inclusive Bill of Rights, arguably one of the most progressive in the world today, and yet we are not without stumbling blocks to fulfilling all the aspects set out within it. As such, many NGO’s across the country work with government and the private sector to assist the Bill of Rights come to fruition for all South Africans.
The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) reports in their 2016/2017 Trend Analysis[1] that “in the five-year period from 2011/ 2012 – 2015/ 2016 human rights complaints and enquiries rose from 8,149 to 9,238. The highest number of human rights’ violations reported to the Commission was in the category of equality where between 2014/15 and 2015/16 equality complaints jumped from 493 to 749, representing an increase of 34%. In addition, socio-economic rights have consistently been in the top five complaints reported to the Commission, and between 2015/16 and 2016/17 increased drastically from 428 to 631 – an increase of more than 30%”. More significantly, “when these complaints (631) are taken together with other socio-economic rights’ complaints relating to housing (297) and education (289), the total number of socio-economic rights complaints (1,217) exceeds equality complaints (705)”.
Our Bill of Rights stipulates the everyone has the right to life, the right to equality before the law, the right to have their dignity respected and protected, the right to freedom and security, the right to freedom of religion and opinion, the right to a basic education, the right to an environment that is not harmful to their health or well-being, and the right to have access to health care services, sufficient food and water; and social security.
More importantly for us at Afrika Tikkun are the rights of children, the most vulnerable of our society: every child has the right to family or parental care, or to appropriate alternative care; to basic nutrition, education, shelter, health care services and social services; to be protected from maltreatment, neglect or abuse; and to be protected from exploitative labour practices; to freedom and security.
Do you see how that word ‘freedom’ keeps popping up? Possibly more so than adults, children need freedom. The guarantee of security, a stable environment and care enables children the freedom to learn, play and grow as individuals, which in turn encourages problem solving, self-reliant, capable and responsible adults. The freedom to express themselves and have opinions inspires confidence and a positive sense of self.
That said, in the 2017 Child Gauge by the Children’s Institute of the University of Cape Town[2] it was reported that one in three children will experience sexual or physical abuse before the age of eighteen. And more recently, Parliament heard from the Minister of Police, Bheki Cele, that 99% of children in South Africa have experienced or witnessed violence, and that 41% of all reported rape cases in the last three years have been of children.
Further, the 2018 Child Gauge[3] notes that South Africa has very high rates of child poverty. “In 2017, 65% of children lived below the upper-bound poverty line… and 36% of children were below the food poverty line, meaning that they were not getting enough nutrition”. They talk about “glaring racial disparities in income poverty: while 72% of African children lived in poor households in 2017, 45% of Coloured children were defined as poor, only 2% of White children lived below this poverty line”. In terms of employment, education and training – according to the Quarterly Labour Force Survey for Q2 of 2018 released by Statistics South Africa[4], “Of the 20,2 million young people in South Africa aged 15-34 years in the second quarter of 2018, 39,3% were not in employment, education or training (NEET) – an increase by 0,4 of a percentage point compared to the second quarter of 2017. The NEET rate increased for black African males and white males… The female NEET rate was higher than that of their male counterparts for all population groups.”
This is not freedom for the children of our nation… who we say are our future and the hope of the nation.
Afrika Tikkun is one of a network of organisations working to make SA a better place, protecting the rights of children and young people, and lending support to enable them develop into young adults with the education, skills and value based attitude that gives them the ability to access the economy in real time. We aim to economically empower young people through our Cradle to Career 360° model from early childhood development through to job placement and beyond. Moreover, we offer outreach and support services to children of all ages with programmes such as nutrition and food security, health care, gender-based violence and child abuse programmes, family support and an empowerment programme for children and families living with disabilities.
At our five centres of excellence in Gauteng and Western Cape we have over 12,000 registered young people every year who each receive a comprehensive set of services designed to propel them into success, and we provide additional services to over 10,000 beneficiaries on ad-hoc interventions. In 2018, 2,102 vulnerable families received psycho-social support; 2,206 received primary healthcare services; 659 families of children with disability were supported; 1,381,572 meals were served; 2,143 food parcels were distributed to families in need; 941 kilograms of food was harvested from vegetable gardens; and we handled 57 child protection cases. We also advocate for the rights of women and children, freedom of speech, empowerment and child protection throughout the year with campaigns such as Memeza Bazokuzwa.
All of this in an effort for the children of South Africa to be productive citizens of the future. If we want the country to grow, we have to acknowledge the human rights of all its inhabitants and work together to ensure their safety, freedom, economic advancement and well-being. It takes a village to raise a child.
On 15 July 2019, Afrika Tikkun will join the United Nations (UN) community in the global celebration to mark World Youth Skills Day (WYSD)[1] and raise awareness about the importance of youth skills development.
According to the UN, there are 1.2 billion young people aged 15 – 24 years across the world, which accounts for 16% of the global population. They are almost three times more likely to be unemployed than adults and continuously exposed to lower quality jobs and greater labour market inequalities. In addition, it is young women that are more likely to be unemployed or underpaid, causing them to accept part-time or temporary contract work. Like Afrika Tikkun, the UN believes that the active engagement of youth in sustainable development efforts is central to achieving ‘inclusive and stable societies’ and to preventing challenges such as unemployment, poverty, gender inequality and conflict.
Relative to South Africa, Statistics SA confirms the above facts in their latest Labour Force Survey[2] reporting that ‘the working age population (15 – 64 years) in South Africa increased by 149,000 in the first quarter of 2019’. This would be good news for most countries; however, in South Africa ‘the unemployment rate between Q1 2019 and Q4 2018 also increased due to a decline of 237,000 in the number of people in employment’. In this same report it is stated that ‘of the 20,3 million young people aged 15-34 years, 40.7% were not in employment, education or training (NEET) – an increase of 1.8% compared to the fourth quarter of 2018’. The Unemployment in the country is at an all-time high. This is not good news.
The aim of World Youth Skills Day is to advocate for skills as an important factor to improve young people’s transitions to decent work, and to highlight the crucial role of skilled youth in addressing today’s most challenging global issues.
So how do we as individuals and organisations address this issue and contribute to a viable and sustainable solution? Obviously, we cannot create hundreds of thousands of jobs out of thin air and we cannot rely solely on government to achieve this either.
In 2018 Bonang Mohale, CEO at Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA), published a book titled Lift as you rise, in which he talked about the concept of Ubuntu and acting for the greater good of our fellow countrymen. The sentiments published in this book are directly related to how we as a people can be part of positive change. In his book he says, “You don’t have to wait until you are called a chairman, CEO or managing director – extend a hand and lift someone who is slightly less fortunate than yourself. That’s how you build a people” … “I have tried to live my life with these old family values, the same way my grandmother brought me up in saying lift others as you rise because that is what is required and expected of you” … “Selflessness is a notion that says I will do it even though no one is watching, I will do it even though there is no recognition and I will do it because it is a moral obligation”. Inspirational words to say the least, and certainly a goal that we should all be aspiring to.
The answer to the question therefore lies in working together to develop a pipeline of young people who are well positioned to take on the scarce and critical skills our country needs, as well as be able to engage and meaningfully fulfil the requirements of the jobs of the future. Based on this year’s WYSD theme of ‘learning to learn for life and work’, this World Youth Skills Day let us emphasize the importance of
Career guidance and career pathing for all young people in high school, particularly grades 9 -12
Digital inclusion, literacy and accelerated learning for all young people as we advance into the fourth industrial revolution
Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) – providing youth with the opportunities to develop their competencies and accelerate their transition to work
Internships, learnerships and work experience that enables our young people to earn a living whilst continue their learning and improving their skills. The key to achieving this lies in corporate citizenship – the investment a business makes in the local community or society as a whole. Corporate citizenship cuts across all players in the private sector, from SMMEs to big business.
Internships and work experience programmes, for example, are arguably one of the best ways to stimulate job creation. It is an effective way to integrate unemployed and inexperienced youth into the formal economy and assist improve their long-term career prospects by arming them with practical work experience. And businesses can benefit too… internships allow businesses to increase staff quantity at a relatively low cost and increase staff quality by growing their talent pool and training up youth for specific placements, thus enabling interns to add value to the core business.
In the long term, businesses can be an invaluable part of the unemployment solution in South Africa. As we know, with increased levels of employment a country fairs better on all fronts – job creation lends itself to strengthening social development and increased spending power means a thriving economy; all in all, a more optimistic life for all citizens. It is a win-win and it is clear: skills advancement and practical work experience, plus corporate citizenship means more opportunities for young people.
In support of the above, this year the UN, as part of observing World Youth Skills Day, sheds light on the ‘mechanisms needed to operationalize lifelong learning’, confident that ‘through upskilling the youth individuals, communities and countries will be propelled towards a more prosperous future’.
This is most certainly what the father of our nation intended when he took office, “driven by an unshakeable belief in the equality of all people”. Established in 1994, it was in 1999 that the then Tikkun ‘project’ was visited by former president Nelson Mandela, who was so impressed by what he saw that he volunteered to become its Patron-in-Chief. Years later and Afrika Tikkun is a fully-fledged Not for Profit company and organisation with public benefit status, still living up to the inspiring ideologies of Tata Madiba: “What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead”. And as Madiba Week draws near with the theme ‘Action against Poverty’ Afrika Tikkun and its benefactors are stepping up to the plate.
With corporate citizenship and conscious leadership on the rise South Africa is on a trajectory for success, but it will take the entire country and all her people as a single unit to solve the crisis of unemployment and keep that trajectory true to its course.
* There can never be enough support for SA’s young people! To find out more about Afrika Tikkun and how you can get involved call 011 325 5914 or visit www.afrikatikkun.org.
International Day of the African Child is celebrated around the globe on 16 June each year in order to raise awareness around the ongoing need for government, institutions and NGOs to act on issues affecting vulnerable children across the African continent; most importantly, the improvement of education and the full realisation of the rights of African children. Every year a new theme is proposed, designed to highlight different aspects of the problems experienced by Africa’s youth, with 2019s focus being ‘Humanitarian Action in Africa: Children’s Rights First’. For the global non-profit organisation, Afrika Tikkun, South Africa’s youth aged seven to thirty five are at the core of their efforts.
Onyi Nwaneri, Group Executive of Strategic Partnerships and Marketing at Afrika Tikkun says, “The developmental work of our Cradle to Career 360˚ model is essentially geared towards enhancing the wellbeing, empowerment and protection of the youth of today. Of critical importance to us is that the voices of the most vulnerable are heard and, naturally, upholding the rights of children plays a crucial role. Our core belief is that every young person has the potential to change the world”.
Afrika Tikkuns Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres offer age appropriate care for those aged two to six, and a curriculum that produces school ready children. This age group has been identified as an extremely important time for growth across all areas of development.
The Child and Youth Development (CYD) Programme works holistically with young people aged seven to eighteen towards facilitating their emotional, intellectual, physical, mental and social development. The programme provides learning and homework support, life skills, sports, arts and culture activities, as well as interventions tailored for the specific outcomes of a higher matric pass rate, positive life choices, taking responsibility for their own lives and further learning opportunities.
The Career Development Programme (CDP) provides career guidance, job readiness training, job placement and bursaries for further learning; targeted at young adults between nineteen and thirty-five years of age. The key outcome is economically empowering young people and breaking the cycle of poverty. These young people should be able to navigate the job market and access opportunities for sustainable employment or self-employment.
In addition, Afrika Tikkun offers an Alumni Programme that aims to secure new ways of curbing youth unemployment as well as outreach and support services to children of all ages with programmes such as Nutrition and Food Security, Health Care, Gender Based Violence (GBV) and Child Abuse, Family Support and an Empowerment Programme for Children and Families Living with Disabilities.
“Together with like-minded supporters we are passionate about developing young people from cradle to career. Throughout all our programmes we aim to shape economically empowered youth so that they, in turn, can contribute to the successful building of our nation”, remarks Nwaneri.
Youth empowerment is a prevailing tool in combatting poverty, crime, violence and poor governance. Empowerment guides youth toward developing a wholesome outlook on life and encourages personal development of the individual. This process starts in early childhood and becomes even more important as young people mature.
Nwaneri concludes, “In South Africa we celebrate International Day of the African Child on the same day as Youth Day because they are so integrated. It is a very auspicious day for us because it speaks directly to our objectives as an organisation”.
Annual Alumni Day encourages SA youth to join the conversation
Afrika Tikkun alumni gathered in great numbers at the Metropolitan Building in Braamfontein on Saturday, 15 June to celebrate Youth Month and participate in a discussion around the importance of preparing for the unprecedented age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
CEO of Afrika Tikkun, Marc Lubner opened the event with inspirational words urging young people to participate in debates and discussions such as these in order to join the conversation and discover the greater opportunities that await them as the next generation of South African leaders.
More than 600 young people from Diepsloot, Hillbrow, Orange Farm and Alexandra attended Afrika Tikkun’s Annual Alumni Day, whilst representatives of African Bank and Afrika Tikkun, as well as SA celebrity Sibongakonke KK Fumba sat on the panel.
Annual Alumni Day is a marked occasion on the Afrika Tikkun calendar as the organisation celebrates the significance of Youth Day, commemorates the actions of the young people that gave hope to South Africa, and provides opportunities and platforms for young people to engage on youth development, employment and entrepreneurial opportunities.
As Afrika Tikkun celebrates its 25th anniversary this year, alumni also shared their success stories under the theme ‘We are Afrika Tikkun Legacy’.
Onyi Nwaneri, Group Executive of Strategic Partnerships and Marketing at Afrika Tikkun commented, “Afrika Tikkun’s Annual Alumni Day provides the perfect opportunity for young people to engage, network and interact with exhibitors, panelists and guests on the future of youth development and employment in the country; sorely needed in these times. For this, we would like to thank all our partners involved in making the day such a success and we look forward to furthering those partnerships in order to make a real difference in the lives of our young people”.
The next Annual Alumni Day is set to take place in Mfuleni on XX, where over 150 young people who are part of the Afrika Tikkun Alumni Programme are expected to attend and engage on the same topic of discussion. Guests and panelists will include representatives of local colleges, corporate companies and government entities who will provide insights and career guidance to alumni members.
The Afrika Tikkun Alumni Programme was introduced in 2018 as the fifth arm of Afrika Tikkun’s holistic Cradle to Career 360º model, intended to further their objective of empowering South African youth and securing new ways of curbing youth unemployment.”
“Focus!
Are lunch breaks for wimps, or do they make us more productive? It is true that you can improve office performance simply by relocating the kettle or coffee machine? And what are Monk Mode Mornings and Hack Weeks? These and many more questions are investigated by Bruce Daisley in his new book, The Joy of Work. As a taster, we have this extract in which he looks at the benefits of focusing on one thing at the time.
Let’s address that thought that you’ve been having – the one you only ever dare mention to yourself as a half-formed notion or to friends when drunk. You have a strong suspicion that you’d be happier doing something else, don’t you? Perhaps you could travel the world. Possibly you’d enjoy being farmer – an organic farmer, perhaps, growing courgettes or purple-sprouting broccoli. Our relationship with work has always been complicated. If we don’t have a job, we’re unhappy. Yet when we do have a job, we invariably rate work as our least favourite activity. We also say that the single thing we most dislike at work is being with our bosses. No wonder that running away to grow courgettes seems so attractive. Survey statistics certainly aren’t encouraging on this front. Office workers asked to evaluate their lives out of 10 tend to give it around six. When researchers used a smartphone app to record over a million observations from tens of thousands of individuals in the UK, they found that being at work scored the second lowest happiness score. Only ‘being ill in bed’ was regarded as being worse. Commuting was also regarded as a thoroughly unenjoyable activity. It’s worth noting, though, that if being an office worker gets you to only a six, being a farm worker scores even lower: 4.5.Even if you have a nice porch to sit on at nights with your lovely little dog, Rex, for company, you’d probably still only achieve 5.5. Courgette growing, then, is probably not the answer.
What is?
It’s been known for some time that money doesn’t lead to happiness – or, at least, that while a certain amount of money is key to a sense of security and wellbeing, it doesn’t follow that the more you have, the happier you become. The inversion of that equation is probably less familiar to people, though. Researchers Andrew Oswald and Jan-Emmanuel De Neve looked at the comparative performance of siblings to see whether happier teenagers went on to perform better financially in adulthood. They found that young people who reported being more content with their lives went on to earn significantly more money later in their lives. How much more? Using accepted measures of trying to calibrate happiness into a score, their data suggests that for every 1% more life satisfaction that individuals showed at the age of 22, they earned $2 000 more at the age of 29. (Of course, this is not the case with that tiny number of jobs that involve high pay and huge stress – such as investment banking).
However, if you are able to achieve happiness at work, not only are you likely to end up earning more, but you’re also more likely to stay in work. Scientists call this ‘reverse causality’. In essence the relationship runs both ways. A win-win (or lose-lose) style situation. At the same time, researchers at Warwick University have found that the productivity of happy workers is likely to increase by 12%. Any unhappy employees, on the other hand, are shown to experience a 10% reduction – meaning a 22% total difference in output from their contented colleagues.
So, how do you make yourself happier at work? Well, in this book, I outline a variety of ways to recharge such as taking a break from email to getting a better night sleep. And while they are effective for variety of reasons, they are also important because the greater focus they give you is in itself a source of greater happiness. Time and time again, scientists have found that constant distraction is a sure path to a sense of discontent. Psychologists at Harvard University, using another smartphone prompt to check on what people at work were thinking and doing, discovered that for 46.9% of the day they weren’t thinking about very much. They were in a fug or blurry mind-wandering. And while mind-wandering can take you down pleasant paths, it seems to be one’s darker thoughts that stick: those in the survey who were particularly prone to self-distraction were 17.7% less happy than their more focused colleagues. As the researchers put it: “A wandering mind is an unhappy mind”.
If you want to be happier in your job, then, doing one thing at a time is a route to happiness as well as productivity. There are times when we need to be unstressed and expansive in our thinking – when we need divergent ideas coming to us. But no idea is of any value unless we have the undistracted concentration to bring it to life. In an age when many of us have dozens of Internet tabs open in our browsers, when we can quickly skip from one activity to another to try to make progress, It can feel that haste means getting more done. In fact, the opposite is true: your mind will most readily serve you with creative thoughts if you’ve completed more of the jobs expected from you. And to get this done you need to focus. “
Proper hand hygiene protects children from tummy bugs and Diarrhea.
On the 8th of May, Sister Pamela (Mfuleni’s health wellness nurse) held a three day hand hygiene awareness session with the ECD learners. The aim of this session was to educate the young ones on how to wash their hands thoroughly, get rid of germs and ultimately avoid getting Diarrhea.
According to Bettercare- South Africa’s leading self-managed learning program, Diarrhea is the most common disease in childhood all over the world. “Why is Diarrhea most common specifically amongst children?” you may ask. One of the simplest answers to this question, is that many children practice poor hand hygiene. Not taking proper handwashing precautions may put children at risk of being infected with Diarrhea or a viral tummy bug.
With the engagement of Physical Health Care staff members and teachers, the willing to learn children actively took part in the process of washing their hands. The ECD learners were presented with steps on how to properly cleanse their hands:
Figure 2: ECD learner washing his hands with wellness nurse
Step 1- Apply soap to your hands- using liquid hand wash as a detergent is a better option than a bar of soap.
Step 2- Ensure that the soap is spread well on both hands and in-between all fingers.
Step 3- Wash your hands thoroughly with clean water.
Step 4- Rinse the soap off until there is none left and the running water is clean.
Step 5- Shake your hands off until they are half or completely dry.
Children should not use a towel to dry their hands after washing them because after people finish using in the restroom, they make use of the towel to dry their hands. This means that the likelihood of the towel being infected with germs is very high- which then defeats the purpose of washing their hands in the first place.
Parents, in order to prevent your child from getting a tummy bug and being infected with Diarrhea, please ensure that they wash their hands often. They should wash their hands before they eat, after relieving themselves and after playing with fellow learners and friends.
A couple of hand washes a day keeps the Diarrhea away!
The Youth Parliament is an inequality awareness programme that aims in enabling the young people to express themselves when they feel that their rights are not being taken into consideration. The programme does this by giving them a weekly platform at the centre to raise their concerns such as human rights, service delivery and other socio-economic issues to the people in power within our communities. The Youth Parliament programme is also a movement that will aid in building advocacy and a rights awareness mindset amongst the youth – specifically women.
ABOUT THE TOUR
V&A Waterfront was the starting point of the tour- one of Cape Town’s most beautiful tourist attractions. Students were exposed to big corporate buildings, nature reserves, sports car dealerships and very classy restaurants on their way to the second stop- Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens.
In a short interview that was conducted with, Sihle Makili (18) who is now part of the Alumni programme, said that “youth living in townships are not exposed to the different parts of Cape Town because we are not outgoing and do not explore Cape Town enough. We are unaware of how well people live on this side as compared to Mfuleni.”
Sihle’s statement is evidence that the purpose of the tour (which was for them to experience the differences in the standard of living in Cape Town) has manifested. He was able to clearly identify that the standard of living for those in townships and those in suburbs, such as Kirstenbosch, are totally dissimilar.
Nontsikelelo Booi (20) expressed that the apartheid era caused a lot of economic inequality not only in Cape Town but in South Africa as a whole. She added, “The Youth Parliament will empower me to help bring a change in our communities, it will enable us, as the youth, to voice out our concerns of service delivery in our township as compared to the suburbs.”
Indiphile Sitomela (21) said that “what stood out for me, was experiencing a different type of ‘fun’ apart from what many would associate with drinking and partying. I had fun while learning about the history of Cape Town and seeing the segregation still existing in some areas, I got educated.”
The Youth Parliament tour aided in the young people recognizing their human rights as South African citizens and thus enabled them to speak up and practice self-advocacy. It also has the potential to lure in many young people and have them express their political views in a controlled manner. The Youth Parliament will enable the young people to become active citizens and work together in trying to add value into our communities.
Having successful and educational excursions such as the bus tour, helps youth stay away from crime related issues such as drug abuse, robbery and alcohol abuse. As much as the tour was an educational one, the students had a lot of fun!
With that being said, the day ended on a lighter note when they saw, touched and took ‘selfies’ with a seal that swam to the shore of the waters at Hout Bay Beach.
When driving by Imizamo Yethu (Our Efforts), an informal settlement on the outskirts of Houtbay, opinions were expressed about how it differed from Houtbay itself. The youth questioned the manner in which Imizamo Yethu was separated from the suburbs by merely a road.
The students met the Kaapse Klopse at Hout Bay Harbor and had an opportunity to dance, sing and laugh with the colorful group. It was an amazing and successful excursion that the youth would love to be a part of in the near future again.
