Sakhisizwe -Building the Nation - Bou Die Nasie

The Centre for Early Childhood Development (CECD) opened its doors in 1994. They are a national resource centre providing training, support and advice in the field of early childhood development. The focus of their work is on improving the education and care of children from disadvantaged communities. Education is a constitutional right hence, every one is entitled to receive it especially from the grass root age but unfortunately, people don't focused enough on it, when it come to childhood development and the government not only is not committed to it, but not enough money is allocated to the intellect growth of children. In two decades, 60 organisations dealing with childhood development  have closed. It's truly a crisis For 25 years, CECD teachers creche-owners, young leaders, babysitters, parents tools of how to educate children properly regarding nutrition, puzzle construction, recyclable materials, how to deal with finances and personals... The Centre for Early C...

A real plague that strikes terror in the Country, an evil that we don't want to name, but we have to: Cancer. A malady that does not discriminate, every one is reachable when it comes to it. In fact, Cancer is South Africa's biggest killer, it causes more deaths than HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria combined according to Discovery Health Medical Scheme. Do you know the old saying that goes:"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" . If yes, organisations such as PinkDRive   has been contributing meaningfully towards preventing, from succumbing to breast, cervical, prostate and testicular cancer. PinkDrive is a health sector non-governmental organisation, founded in 2009 by Ms. Noelene Kotschan, on the premise that early detection will help prolong a life. In the studio, we spoke to Dr. Parker who is the founder of the BIG Walk and Megan Davids from PinkDrive. Early detection is truly the key to help prolonging a life hence, PinkDrive educates...

It's never been tougher to start a new business in South Africa. Many businesses rely on disposal income which is the money left over from your salary after you have paid all your taxes to make profit, but as the taxes go up, our salaries shrink. Funding is another big issue. A young entrepreneur who want to borrow money from a bank to start a business will be surely turned down.  We received Martin Feinstein who is the Project Leader of JUMP to talk about this new and free web-app. JUMP   is a mobile web-app entirely funded by the Western Cape Government to help new entrepreneurs to achieve their dreams. It provides a platform where entrepreneurs connect to see and to be seen. Through JUMP, you get the support you need just like a mentorship, you will see the available funding opportunities and resources that you might need to launch your business. If you are an entrepreneur, and you want to start a small business or if you want to take responsibility for your o...

One of the scourge that strikes our country is unemployment. In fact, unemployment increased by 0.5% per year and 6.1 million of people are without jobs according to Statistics. We have 2.9 million of people who were discouraged, job seekers and another 12.6 million of people who are not economically active. To find a way out from this situation, entrepreneurship might be the key. People want to become entrepreneur or just to create Small and Medium Enterprise but they face challenges. One of the main challenges is the lack of knowledge. New comers in the field of business don't know where to go , where to start, how to do it, who to speak to, which kind of business to do... Another big challenge is competition. Out there, competition is fierce. How can you differ from others when the idea of business is the same? In the midst of all those challenges, you have a big brother, someone you can lean on:  SABRI . South African Resources Institute (SABRI) is a non-profit ...

Baphumelele Fountain of Hope was created in 2001 with the aim to provide young, orphan, vulnerable people a safe and nurturing environment, a new skill set including food security, and educational support enabling them to build a positive future for themselves as self-sufficient adults. We received Owen Mdledle who is the Youth Development Co-Coordinator at Baphumelele to  talk about their new projects.  "Baphumelele is turning 30 years-old this year. Through the years, we have empowered young people with skills, we have given them opportunities to work, we help vulnerable women by giving them a safe place to stay. We educate the less fortunate people of the community". "Independent Living Program  is a post 18 residential facility project, that started in 2007. Once you reach 18 years-old, you have to leave the children-house, but many of the young adults don't have a place to go. We provide a safe place for them and we keep on educating them, enhancin...

An invitation to a public debate on Human Rights day (21 March) under the theme of " The Black Body: still a Site of Oppression" is given to you at The Apartheid Museum. To have a taste of this interesting debate, we had Lovelyn Nwadeyi, Director and Founder of L&N Advisors. She was listed among the Mzansi 100 Influences in 2017 and was named the foremost Women to watch by Elle Magazine. In 1994, the Apartheid was over... A chance to build a democratic country for everyone was given to us, but 25 years later, Black people still suffer from many social injustices. Just for being Black, in some places, you are seen as a danger, a potential threat for others. If you are not quick to depart, you might experience physical violence. We are divided into Black, Indian and Colored townships. As a nation , we are not united. There are jobs only reserved for Black people with a low remuneration of R3500. How can you make a decent living with this kind of salary. Financi...

The Rape Crisis Trust is the oldest organisation in South Africa supporting the recovery of rape survivors, seeking justice and making change in communities. It was established in 1976. Kathleen Dey, Director at Rape Crisis came to talk about their new campaign. Whether you like it or not, we are all affected by Rape. 54000 were registered last year only in the  country and 8000 cases in the Western Cape. If you are not a rape survivor yourself, you definitely know of someone who has been raped. Rape is truly a crisis. One thing to know is that rape does not discriminate, men, women, children, elders, regardless of the race, gender, religion..... Another issue is the fact that many rape's are not reported to The Authorities, rape survivors don't have faith in the criminal justice system, they fear they'll be stigmatized, they are just traumatized so they don't open up to others or they just want to forget or they have a special relationship with the rapist, be...

Last year alone, 3262 girls from the age's of 10-14 years-old fell pregnant. In a Country where the Law states clearly that you can consent to have sex at the age of 16 years-old. In fact, young women are being raped, abused. When they fall pregnant in order to avoid all the stigma attached to the situation they turn to illegal backstreet abortions. While the debate pro or against abortion will never ends, Organizations, doctors, educators, journalists, principals, counselors, parents all agree that Education is the main key to use in order to inform youngsters of what to do to prevent abortion first and what to do once you find yourself pregnant. The education should start at home with the parents. You talk about sex, morality, family planning, life orientation. You, as a parent you talk to your girl child and your boy as well because it takes two people to make a baby. You let them know about the great responsibilities that go with having sex, like or not, sex is truly a lif...

Sm2 Authentic Wear is a clothing brand by Simlindile Mafuna from Delft. Let hear from him. I loved clothes since my childhood. As soon as I had a little money from my Aunt, I would run to the market to buy a piece of cloth. My passion for clothing grew in a way I felt the need to dress other people as well. Here, we have Sm2 Authentic Wear. I have to say I get my inspiration in the nature by observing things around me. Sometimes, the shade of a cloud can be so inspiring and I only duplicate 20 models per item. I am facing many challenges such as funding, because we have many brand-owners in the market, another issue is that hunger to stay relevant, because fashion changes everyday so you need to be one step ahead to remain in the market, don't follow the flow, be you , it's another challenge for a brand-owner. You tend to follow the trend - maker and forget about your visions. Competition and criticism are good if only you can turn them into constructive ideas, suggest...

The Association for Visual Arts (AVA) is a non-profit, membership- based arts organisation with the primary aim of advancing and promoting South African contemporary art and artists. Mirjam Asmal, Director at AVA and Cam came to the studio to talk to us. The Association was created over 160 years ago, during that time, Cape was still a colony. A group of artists decided to come together to deal with art affairs: The Department of Art and Culture was not there that time. Throughout the time AVA did not change its vision, they are still promoting Arts. For Mirjam, art affects politics, you describe what you feel or think of the politics and art goes together with culture. The Association deals with arts such as ceramics, drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, design, crafts-photography, video, film-making, performance and architecture  The ArtReach provides a platform to young artists with studio-place, marketing material, exhibition place, mentorship as the job ...

Street Stories Films is registered as a Non-Profit Organisation with the Department of Social Services and as a Public Benefit Organisation with the South African Revenue Services. They  make documentaries, including the Street Talk series, in which people talk about their lives and real issues affecting them. They have  broadcasted more than 200 episodes across South Africa.  In the studio, we received Jo Menell, co-founder of Street Talk and Andile, Founder of Masi Massive Hip Hop Movement Let's Succeed is a short film of 15 minutes made to give a voice to the residents of Masiphumelele. Masi, which means "Let's succeed" in Xhosa is a community that suffers from high unemployment, drugs consumption, gangsters, housing situation but, yet it' s a beautiful place. Menell put together not the leaders, counselors but the ordinary people of Masi to speak about their fears, hardships, hopes and dreams. The short film is unedited so you get the deeper feelings...

If you are used to medical articles or books , you know surely that there is one macabre silent killer that takes 53 lives of men and 78 females lives each day in South Africa: Hypertension, it leads to heart attack and strokes. According to The Heart and Stroke Foundation, 5 people have heart attack and 10 people have strokes a day.. There is another silent killer in the city. If people can talk about their BP openly, why not when it comes to the second silent killer, we close our windows and doors, we just hide ourselves: Depression. We received Pasche Dreyer, the founder of Breaking Free, Depression the Silent Killer talk about her journey. Her voyage started with her mother who had Major Depression with Psychosis then, she committed suicide by hanging herself finally. Pasche was left alone... 4 years ago, she started battling with Depression herself. "My soul detached itself to my own body, you see darkness around you, it's the scariest place to be when your own body...

I was born in the beautiful city of George. My parents got divorce so I was raised by my loving and supportive mother and my parents chose to call me: Theo. Life was treating me right, but deep inside a natural fire started slowly to light inside me, an unbearable burden was in my heart, I felt different, I spoke differently, I had feminine preferences: I was Gay. In a family, in a town where being gay is sacrilege, how do you come "out" when you only 16 years-old? How do you master your own fears? How do you face your father and tell him: Dad, I am gay!!! "I knew it, my son I was waiting for you to tell me that" was my mother's response. Being the only child, my father went red and until now, he does not cope with this situation or accept the fact that this id who i am and what makes me be me. The support of my mother and my few friends was unconditionally,  makes me strong to perpetuate my journey. Troubles started, my misery began, I was living hell ...

SouthSouthNorth supports national and regional, climate change through policy and knowledge interventions, partnerships and deep collaboration. They do this by connecting people and information, enhancing capability and mobilizing resources to respond to the challenges and opportunities that climate change presents. Josh Ogda spoke to us about: What is climate change? Is it global warming? Is it ice melting? When it comes to climate change many people seem to define that concept on its warming side only, not knowing that climate change is not only in rising temperature, but also a sequence of things, events that occur around us such as  extreme cold conditions, torrential rain and flooding in some places, less rainfall and drought in Cape Town for example. Even though, countries like Russia, China, USA and others have more industries therefore they have polluted the planet more, as to Africans by cutting our trees, we deforest our Continent and individually, just by t...

The Butterfly Art Project (BAP) is a non-profit organisation established in 2010. BAP offers art lessons, art therapy and educational programmes to children and adults in the community. They encourage creativity and healing through art in order to build a strong community of active, artistic and stable citizens that are able to recognize and utilize opportunities. They believe through partnering with educational institutions, offering mentor-ships, training for educators and art practitioners to run healing art classes in vulnerable communities, they build resources for a creative network. We spoke to Zaid about their upcoming project: "The Gratitude Project" They will be running their annual bonus module called The Gratitude Project so they are recruiting participants. You will learn the skills needed to run your own gratuity-themed workshop with children in your communities. What is gratitude? By definition, gratitude is the quality of being thankful, showing readine...

The Philani Maternal, Child Health and Nutrition Trust has been addressing maternal, child health and nutrition problems in the communities of Cape Town since 1979. Philani’s mandate is sustainable community health, and, over the years, they have developed programs to meet the needs of the communities they serve. As an organisation they aim to improve health outcomes by combining their skills and resources with the knowledge and resources that exist in the community. They promote family health, focusing on the support of pregnant mothers, care for new born babies and children as they grow, prevention of child malnutrition and the rehabilitation of underweight children. They are committed to limiting the suffering of families infected and affected by HIV and preventing the spread of the virus. We spoke to Nokwanele Mbewu about Malnutrition and Alcoholism. Apart from HIV/AIDS and TB, Malnutrition and Alcoholism are the affliction that the disadvantage people of the community  s...

The Dave Sassman Foundation " Building Bridges and Dreams and Taking Jobs to the People" is a non-profit company dedicated to the transfer of much-needed building related skills to previously disadvantage individuals in the Republic of South Africa and the unemployed masses across the African Continent since 1972. "I am currently in the departure of my Unique Overland Humanitarian Expedition across three continents-scheduled to depart from Cape Town, SA on 4th March 2019. I am going to drive a sport-car across the continent to Portland, USA. The goal is to build an economic bridge between Cape Town and Portland so we can help the poorest of the poor, people of the rural community. This event has a threefold initiative : 1. Train " the poorest of the poor" to make unique 16MP Concrete Bricks by hands. 2. Create Jobs and Entrepreneurial Opportunities. 3. Give charitable Organisations across the globe an opportunity to raise funds for their individual      ...

The Development Action Group (DAG) is a non-profit organisation working throughout South Africa to address the causes of poverty and inequality in urban areas. They have over 30 years of working with community based organisations to unlock opportunities and access basic services, land, tenure rights and affordable housing. For many years, DAG has been involved in Capacity Building initiatives for grassroots organisations and leaders that were focused on increased community participation, effective urban land management and sustainable development in human settlements. We received Akona Siswana from DAG to talk about their organisation.  Let hear from him.... DAG was established in 1996 out of the need of developing the urban area in Cape Town regarding housing issue. On a daily basis, we strive to answer one question: "What is the change DAG wants to see?" To answer that sole question, we want vibrant neighborhood, easy access to housing, access to reliable houses an...

The Whole World Women Association is a multicultural non-profit organisation based in Cape Town. Some South African women who had experienced first-hand, the need for more comprehensive refugee services decided to join a group of remarkable refugee women to raise awareness about the refugee situation. We spoke to Mary Tal, who is the founder of Whole World Women Association. Exile is not an easy thing to endure for anyone and it's particularly tough to go through it when you are a gentle sex. When it comes to refugee, women are the most vulnerable people indeed, they face abuse, rape, exclusion and many others challenges. When something happens to them in a foreign country, they have no one to speak to immediately. Many barriers restrain them from speaking up, fear of being deported, lack of being able to speak the local language, not knowing where to go... In South Africa, according to Mary, legal documentation for refugee seekers is quite a struggle. A female refuge...

South Africa in general and Cape Town particularly is a place with a powerful history that had a period of Apartheid, social and political struggles and injustices in which many men and women were killed and others put in jails for decades in order to protect the selfish interests of a small group of people. When the proud sons and daughters of South Africa decide to say "No'' to the oppressors and its regime, many black political parties, diverse non-governmental organisations, trade unions started to birth to claim human rights and freedom for everyone. A particular attention is on The "Community House"  situated in 41, Salt River, Cape Town We spoke to Joao about the 21 of March. Community House is a living heritage site since 2010. Since its beginning, it is a place of activism which build the social-political environment of Cape Town. Currently 24 organisations that focus on labour research, popular education. gender advocacy, HIV/AIDS education, env...

Ashur Petersen is a young recording artist and actor who started his musical journey at the tender age of 6-years-old. When he reached 9, he did not play like other children. He started playing guitar and guess what?/!! He taught himself how to play piano, trumpet, banjo, drums..Plus, Ashur is an award winning South African entertainer. He's truly a musical genius. He came to us today to talk about his new single "Legacy" and the two shows that he is going to have this weekend. We had an outside interview with him, facing the busy Victoria Road. Briefly, because we want you to listen to the single by yourself, Legacy is Ashur's story. His father was a well-known musician with great talents as well so people still see his father through him. And for him, while he wants to follow his father's footsteps and he want to be something else by his own, to have another story, maybe a greater one... #First Fridays is the show he's going to have today at Kismet Pl...

Black Sash Trust works towards the realization of socio-economic rights, as outlined in the South Africa Constitution of 1996, with emphasis on social security and social protection for the most vulnerable particularly women and children. They explore options to reduce poverty and inequality in the society. Amanda Ismail who is the Western Cape Regional Manager at Black Sash Trust spoke to us about their feelings regarding certain points in the 2019 Budget Speech. The Minister of Finance announced that social grant increases of 4,7% for old age and 4,8% for child support grant. An increase of 29 c per litre for the petrol and 30 c per litre for diesel. Black Sash through Amanda thinks that the 2019 Budget Speech does not respond to the SA food poverty line. This refers to the amount of money that an individual will need to afford the minimum required daily energy intake. This is also commonly referred to as the “extreme” poverty line. R 547 is the amount that a person should...

Health is wealth, we hear that from everyone but how invested are we in our own health? We spoke to Professor Nola Dippenaar who is a health coach at Health Insight. She spoke about how to take control of our health. There is not a magic wand when it comes to having a good health and maintaining it. It's an every single day choice you make. Small choices we make on a daily basis will have a huge impact with time. Many factors can influence your overall well being such as good hygiene and better life style choices but there are 4 backbones to live with if you want a good health according to Prof. Nola. 1. Sleep. A good sleep for an adult is 7-9 hours and for children is more obviously. After a good night of sleep, you wake up energized, you feel terrific, but a lack of sleep not only increase your cortisol level but it changes your metabolism tremendously. 2. Physical activity. A dose of daily physical activity is vigorously recommended to all adults. A twenty minutes wal...

Arthritis is an inflammation of one or more of your joints. It can cause pain and stiffness in any joint in the body, and is common in the small joints of the foot and ankle . We are going to talk about Ankle Arthritis with Dr. Jason Crane who is an orthopedist-surgeon of a long career. The causes of Ankle Arthritis are multiples such as  overweight people who put a lot of pressure on their ankles, people with rheumatoid disease, previous ankle injury, infection of a joint  and the genetic of the patient can lead to Ankle issue. The symptoms are diverse as well, such as deformity of the joint, stiffness of the ankle, swelling around the joint, bones spurs causing a lumpy appearing joint, instability...but easy to detect with an X-Ray. One of the simple step to treat ankle arthritis is by changing your footwear, you do a shoe modification, limit activities such as running and jumping, get an ankle-foot-orthose to support your joint, you get some anti-inf...