Youth Day in South Africa is an
important and inspiring day. It commemorates the Soweto uprising of the youth
on the 16th of June 1976 against the Bantu Education system.[1]
A system created by the Bantu Education Act 47 of 1953, which entrenched
numerous racist provisions such as enforcing racially separated educational
facilities.
The Bantu system was designed to
indoctrinate black South Africans by attempting to educate them in their “role”
in an Apartheid South Africa. This role was the role of a labourer, worker or
servant.
This led to black students marching
in a peaceful manner against the use of Afrikaans as a teaching medium as well
as against the Bantu Education Act in general.
This peaceful protest did not last
long and was ultimately met with unjust violence from the armed police force.
This clash led to a great uprising in our country and further consequences for
the Apartheid government internationally as images of the brutal police force
firing on the peaceful protesters were seen all over the world.
South Africa has since made huge
strides with regards to youth empowerment. Its National Youth Policy was updated in 2015
with a new update is due sometime after 2020. The National Youth Policy was
developed, for the youth in South Africa, to address the inequalities of the
past and to develop mechanisms to help the youth reach their potential.[2]
This policy entrenches the fact that the youth are key for social and economic
change in our country and attempts to equip them with the tools they need for
such change.
Well-known youth programmes that are
often referenced on the radio include the LeadSA Heroes programme where, each
month, a young person is showcased for the impact or change that they are
bringing to their community. One such “hero” is Joshua Krynauw, who founded
Soles for Souls.[3] He
saw a need for something that many of us take for granted, school shoes. His
three siblings, namely Heath, Oliver and Liam have also joined the team in the
last few years they have provided school shoes to over 2000 young
underprivileged children. They set up collection boxes in schools and then
distribute the shoes themselves at their annual distribution days. They have
also in the interim helped children with other shoes that have been donated
such as sports shoes and shoes needed for dancing.
Soles for Souls does not stop at
shoes however, they have branched out into building libraries and creating
meaningful impact days where children are fed, and fun activities are organised
for them. The Krynauw children have always grown up giving back to the
community and they prefer to do so in person instead of merely depositing money
into a bank account. A single example of the youth empowerment necessary in
South Africa.
Another amazing organisation that
really aims at helping the youth of South Africa is the Character Company.[4] This organisation’s main aim is mentorship and relationship building for young
boys who do not have father figures in their lives.
Their mission is to “raise boys to
be good men.” The basis for this is to ensure that the lack of father figures
does not become an increasingly severe issue in our society and to further
assist in making our communities a safer place for women and children.
The Character Company works with
boys from the age of 5 years old. They have weekly and weekend activities as
well as various camps throughout the year to help the boys with this mentorship
program. They create a support structure for single mothers and guide the boys
into becoming the best men that they could be.
Youth Day represents a historic day
in our South African history, not only as a fateful reminder of where we have
come from, but also as a guiding symbol of where we have yet to go. The youth
of today will be the future of tomorrow and it is vital that such a future is
properly realised.
Prepared by Maxine Boyd
Hire a professional hacker(Expungement Lawyer) from Novelty Documentation Express to clean off your criminal details from any database system, anytime anywhere, is our profession we offer these services on daily basis without any complication, all our clients go court free with no trace of their criminal history.
ReplyDeleteExpungement Lawyer - Delete your criminal record