A Salute on Youth Day

Some of the young people who spent their December holiday
building water storage tanks for a village in Thailand

I cannot help but admire the many young people (18-23) who traipse in and out of our house to visit my son and daughter. They're bright, confident and pro-active, they don't carry any baggage, generally respect each other's differences and want to contribute to our country. 

Shen Winberg with Malala and the group of SA musicians who
performed at the World's Children's Prize in 2014

I have noticed there's a generation of young, energetic people across the world like this - I've seen them at the World Economic Forum among the young global leaders and shapers, met the gold recipients of the presidents award, engaged with the young people who make up the jury of the World's Children's Prize ... champing at the bit to bring about change. I am optimistic that their generation will get it right, if we haven't messed up too much already. But I realise that the youth I generally come into contact with are often more privileged or those who have overcome dire circumstances through intervention by extraordinary people. 

Kai Fitchen Making Mountains Metaphors 

On the other side of the coin, I am constantly humbled by the overwhelming obstacles that the youth of the different projects I am involved with, have to overcome to lead "normal" lives. Too often I am floored by the day-to-day realities that present stumbling blocks - the meeting that has to be cancelled because a young man couldn't leave the township because taxi-drivers were shooting at each other and the police had put up roadblocks at the exits, the teenager who gets accepted at university and then has to find a job because his girlfriend is pregnant, the one whose father can't see why he should be wasting his time at band practice when he could be earning a pittance cutting plastic for a few cents or the young man whose parents live in a shack in someone's backyard and try to make a living driving a taxi which breaks down every other day.

Saxophonist inspiring youth in Delft

A friend is renovating a place in Woodstock. all the workers are from Manenberg, a township in the news lately for the ongoing gang warfare. She's trying to do everything by the book and has provided them with hard hats, masks and boots to wear on-site. They push the masks up onto their heads and laugh at her protestations - why should they worry about getting hurt at work when it's more likely that they will get killed in the cross-fire walking home?

One of the problems is a lack of organisation and forward planning, e.g. not thinking about applying to study further because you don't believe that you're going to do well enough and then missing the deadlines. But then, how can you blame them when no one in the house or even the neighbourhood has finished school let alone gone any further. I know that we cannot hold their hands but many of them need a hand UP, not a hand OUT. It's a tough world and no one said it would be fair, but we have a responsibility to help them face in the right direction. 

Adelia in Delft 

This photo of Adelia Douw, vocalist for the Delft Big Band, in her vibrant purple dress and high heels against the backdrop of the township, is a reminder for me of the potential of our youth and what they can achieve with hard work and encouragement from someone who believes in them.  

WCP photos from www.childrensworld.org
Kai Fitchen's photo supplied by him for a previous blog.
Photos in Delft by Jac de Villiers for the Delft Big Band