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 

Thank You St Cyprian's

Last Monday my daughter wrote her last school exam, ever. When she was finished she took off her school shoes tied them together by the laces, and put them in a big box for Mama Amelia, along with the shoes of all the other girls who had finished writing. Mama Amelia will distribute the shoes to those who are in need of them.

She walked out of the school grounds barefoot, leaving behind 14 years of formal schooling and stepped towards a new phase of her life. She has been nurtured and prepared for her adult life all the while being made aware of the needs of those less fortunate. Leaving her shoes behind is just one of many reminders that have helped her on this path.

St Cyprian’s has proved to be a very special school. The ethos of social responsibility, tolerance and respect, runs deep. The school is working hard towards being as diverse as it can be – teachers and students of different cultures, colours and creeds work and learn side by side. At one stage there were 20 different languages being spoken in the boarding school. The French students had petit dejeuner with pain au chocalat and croissants; after the Afrikaans exam their teachers were there with koffie en melktert to sustain them.

For Human Rights Day this year they came to school barefoot with a pair of their own shoes to donate. By the end of the day they were able to trace out a giant ‘140’ with all the shoes on the sports field, for the 140 years the school has been in existence.

Every year Africa Day is proudly celebrated – everyone dresses up in the colours of one of the African countries, classroom doors are decorated and food pyramids created.  From grade eight they are challenged to complete a certain number of hours of community service. The school enables this by organising various projects. In December senior girls are chosen to go off to work on one of the Round Square International Service projects.

As a Round Square school, St Cyprian's subscribes to the ideals of internationalism, democracy, environmentalism, academic excellence, and leadership. They are certainly fulfilling these aims. And year after year the girls come back to celebrate St Cyprian’s Day in St George’s Cathedral, ending with a scrumptious tea in the school grounds and a dance around the cypress tree!

Cypress tree in front of the school