Sakhisizwe -Building the Nation - Bou Die Nasie

Parents have responsibilities when it comes to their children. One of the main responsibility is to contribute to the maintenance of the child, that includes the provision towards a child's clothing, housing, dental and medical care, and education. As it takes two people to make a child, both parents must maintain the child and according to the needs of the child and it's only cease when the child can support him/herself. Surprisingly, to look after their own children seems to be an issue for some parents and to receive child maintenance give birth to many difficulties. We spoke to Felicity Guest who is the the Founder of Child Maintenance Difficulties South Africa. Child Maintenance Difficulties South Africa (CMDSA) was founded in July 2014 out of Felicity's own experience. The maintenance Act was so frustrating that she decided to create a platform where single parents will know and understand the process of getting a judge to deliver an Act of maintenance and

"Tracing the consequences of child poverty: evidence from the Young Lives study in Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam" is a book that displays 15 years of research to explore how poverty shapes children's well being and development and how data can inform social policy and practice approaches to improving outcomes for poorer children. As many countries in the world, South Africa and his children suffer from poverty as well. We spoke to Andy Dawes who is the co-author of the book and an Associate Professor Emeritus at University of Cape Town (UCT) to see how poverty affect our children. Poverty is truly a scourge in South Africa and it starts before the birth of the child. The pregnant mother who is poor, cannot feed herself with proper nutritious food and cannot have access to good health care service so she will see her baby growing with physical and psychological issues: the age of the baby won't correspond with the physical growth. Once that poor child reache

Parkinson's disease affect the nerve cells in the brain that produce dopamine. Its symptoms include muscle rigidity, tremors and changes int he speech and gait. After diagnosis, treatments can help relieve symptoms but there is no cure. On 11 of April is the World Parkinson's Day, throughout the month events are taking place all over the world to raise awareness and vital funds for research into better treatments and ultimately a cure. We spoke through the phone to Carmen Davidson who is Dance Instructor at Dance for Parkinson which is an uplifting and life enhancing movement program that will increase mobility, quality of life and bring a sense of validation and purpose back into an individual with Parkinson. While Parkinson affects in most of the cases people from the age of 60 years-old and upward no one is immune against it: in fact, Parkinson is one of the diseases that does not discriminate. One of the visible effects when suffering from Parkinson is the fact tha

I grew up with a single mother and life was very tough for me. I ended up living in three different children homes. Things went from bad to worse: many basic things were lacking... As I am reaching 25 years-old and looking at all these previous years of my own struggles, I think it's important to look after children emotionally and physical. I came with the idea of IKHAYA Building Homes, an organisation for both boys and girls from the age of 5-25 years old with the aim of creating a safe environment for those who have been abused. Truly, children are the most vulnerable preys in the society. Children abuse, human trafficking ...they are just under many harms so it's imperative to provide them with a platform where they can learn different skills to face life. For more information contact Levina Nokqubo Tel: 081 456 8623 Web: www.ikhayabuldinghomes.co.za                                                  By: Panphil Tshisumpa

Growing up, I was bullied and I am from Bonteheuwel a place where shootings, killings, gangsters, alcohol and drug abuse are not news anymore..... My escape from all of these terrible social ills was when I was dancing, I've always been a dancer and I got introduced to Kingdom Radically Uplifts Mighty Praise better known as KRUMP. KRUMP became my way out , my evasion out of an hostile world. Even though I was dancing, an heavy weight was in my heart, I wanted to help the children of my community, to give them a platform where they can express themselves through dancing, through KRUMP. The Northern Dance Academy was born. I started teaching children to KRUMP, it's an hard style or an angry one for others, but we all come from a tough place, why should we dance in a traditional way? I teach now 40 children on a daily basis. On the 27 of April, we will be having a concert named "1.3" at Multipurpose Centre in Bontasa/Bonteheuwel . It takes 1.3 km to reach the

Edmonte Shervon Wesso, better known as EdoubleD is a South African rapper, singer and songwriter born in The Range, a small division in Elsies River. Growing up in a neighborhood where gangsters make the law, drugs and excessive alcohol consumption, dropping out of school, teen pregnancy, poverty, unemployment..are every day facts. Some young people want more, want better life so they fight to make things work. In 2010, Edmonte started his musical journey. Many people didn't believe in him, quickly he became the laughing stock of everyone but he didn't give up: he kept on pushing. His first ever single was "Call me what you like" was a complete success, people started to appreciate his songs. In 2017, he won the TopStars 2017 music award for best male R&B vocal: he became famous. Giving back to the community was and still is one of his priority, Edmonte advises youngsters of his community to believe in their own dreams. To be the change that they want t

Craig is a young South African rapper. He started his musical career while replenishing groceries on the shelves of a well known supermarket. Before that, music was not just his thing. Deep inside, lyrics, melodies were boiling inside his head. One day, while placing a kettle on the shelf, he saw CJ100 written on the kettle's box: he became CJ100, he became a rapper.. Since that day, he has grown as an artist and he even managed to build an entourage around him. For him: " if you love what you do, don't pay attention to what people say or do, keep on working... "I MUST" , a beautiful single launched recently with the message of not giving up in life: it's not because you lose a battle that means you lose the whole war. When you fall, don't complain, stand up and keep on moving For more information contact Facebook: CJ100   Instagram: CJ100                                                      By: Panphil Tshisumpa

17 years ago, Christel House was born to transform the lives of impoverished children of the different communities. More than a school, they change lives by focusing on the whole child through education, feeding, providing health care from 4 years-old to adulthood. Adri Marias, Chief Executive Officer at Christel House was in studio to talk about their work. Poverty affects everyone of us in general, but children suffer the most from it particularly: a child who does not eat well or enough will not fully reach his/her physical growth and a hungry children cannot be taught as well. Christel House started in the USA and we have 8 branches all over the world: one is in Africa and it's here in South Africa. We have a strong impact not only nationally, but internationally. We have been helping children around the world to break the cycle of poverty and become self-sufficient, contributing members of the society. "We base our education in two main pillars: Characters buildi

Human trafficking is rough in South Africa, 30,000 kids are being traded and prostituted in our country according to The Times. Unfortunately, the numbers are getting higher by the day.... We were joined in studio by Patricia Winner from MeCaht to talk about their new project: IGUGU Sustainable Freedom Project. Human trafficking is not a myth, it's a reality that we live with on a daily basis....Many people are being trafficked, but if  by any chance we have a survivor, what to do next? IGUGU Sustainable Freedom Project came up to provide skills developments and to empower not victims, but survivors of human trafficking to be able to make a decent living after that life changing experience. They teach sewing to the survivors and to all people of the community. They sell very affordable stuffs such as bags, shirts, dresses.... all hand made. They are looking for industrial sewing machines to extend their programs, they want you to be a part of it. For more informatio

"Vicky Sampson" Does that name ring a familiar feeling for you? If yes, she came in studio along with two talented young male rappers King Luther and Craig O to talk about Mzanzi Cultural Industries (MCI) that was launched in early 2018 with the focus on uniting diverse and colorful communities, through various genres of dance styles including HIP-HOP, contemporary rap, singing and more... Vicky said that being a celebrity it not only about fame, it's also about helping young upcoming artists. They create Mzansi many roots, one tree to showcase the different talents of young artists regardless of your genre of music, styles, race as long as you are from South Africa: the root that unify everyone of us. Mzansi Cultural Industries promotes South African Artists and South African culture under three pillars: discover, develop and establish. They look for  unknown artists, they develop them by giving them a platform and make them famous. On the 26-27 April, they will

As a nation, 7 millions of people can not afford to feed themselves on a daily basis meanwhile tonnes of completely edible foods are thrown away all over the country. The main victims of this tragedy are children. In fact, 34% of children had no food to eat for breakfast according to the SA national Health and Nutrition and Examination Survey. Peter Williams, Director at 2nd Harvest was in the studio to talk about the tremendous work they are doing for children. 2nd Harvest started out as a simple need to support communities, ECDs, NGOs and existing Soup Kitchens with nutritionally balanced meals providing children between 6 months and 6 years old with a smart nutritional breakfast as well as a nutritionally balanced hot meal for people of all ages. "As all non-profit organisations, we struggles when it comes to funds so we would like every one to be a part of this noble cause if most of non-governmental organisations use their funds to pay their employees but with us , be

Atlantic Hope was founded by Marilyn May in 2010 as a safety house for vulnerable babies, providing temporary and immediate placement within a safe and loving environment. It provides basic development, physical and mental care; medical needs are prioritized and babies are fed, kept warm, and given affection in a stable house. We received Dani in the studio, a passionate woman from Atlantic Hope to talk about the work they have been doing for the babies. Since 2010, Atlantic Hope is growing in a way that 80 babies have been placed in our care. We can look after 6 babies at one time according to the Law and we keep them for a short time: less than a year. The goal is to find placement for them as fast as possible at a permanent place. Each baby has a particular story and each of them brings a different experience of love and attachment to us. One particular story of hope is when we found a place in Germany for triplets... Marylin May has given her own home, to house those vul

WeCanChangeOurWorld is an online media and news platform to showcase, connect and communicate all social and environmental development, with the view to facilitate and optimize collaboration between the stakeholders: Government, Businesses, NGO's / NPO's and Service Providers for the greater good for everyone. We spoke to Cheryl Harper, Founder of WeCanChangeOurWorlg regarding her organisation. 10 years ago, WeCanChangeOurWorld was born out of the need to create a bridge between corporate funds which wanted to put their money into development and the non governmental organisations which needed funding to operate efficiently. The growth of the organisation has been amazing through all these years: over 1500 NGO's were registered and helped to receive funding. Many success stories have been published to showcase the great work that we do. "We would like to see two main social changes in our country: we would like the Government to support more when it comes

Sex, penis, vagina..... are words considered almost as the ''N'' or the ''F'' word. It is just taboo to talk about sex in our so-called society. You have to literally lower your voice to say sex . For you, we brought Nicole, she is a Sex Coach and a Sexologist so we can talk about her educational platform project regarding sex education. As we said before, talking about sex is still taboo and for reasons that we don't know, South Africa does not offer a sexology qualification to people. (by the way , Nicole studied in the USA). While talking about sex is sacrilege, over 3000 young girls from the age of 10-14 years-old were pregnant last year only and if you see how the number of  young people getting infected by HIV/AIDS, you can only conclude that it is imperative to educate people about sex. Nicole created an Education Platform Project with the aims to make sex education as just accessible as pornography; a 9 years-old child in our

We all agree with the saying "Youth, hope of tomorrow" but we don't have a deep look on what they are facing on a daily basis and we don't provide most of the time, or possible solutions to them. In our country, adolescents in general and female adolescents particularly endure a lot: from teen pregnancy to substances-abuse to frequent rape etc.. But one of the main scourge, we have to point fingers at is HIV. Among the young population between the age of 10-19 years-old, there are 320'000 new infected with HIV: a number that gives a parent a chill effect. Getty Machimane from the Department of Health, joined us on the phone to help the community to find some possible solutions to tackle this terrible phenomenon. The Department of Health has the mission of improving health status through the prevention of illnesses and the promotion of healthy lifestyles and to consistently improve the healthcare delivery system by focusing on access, equity, efficiency, q

Women in general and young girls particularly suffer from many social injustices imposed to them by a  macho society: rape, gender based violence, inequality, to name only those three are what women go through on a daily basis. We received Tessa Whyatt from Time to Thrive Leadership to talk about how they empower young women. Through their programs called Time to Thrive, they educate, they give a platform to young women to know that nothing is stopping them to be better, to excel in life, to stay in school. They want young females to know that a woman's life is not limited to be a wife or mother in the kitchen: women can have big dreams and turn them into reality. They provide life skills, self skills and leadership skills to women in order for them to equipped and face the daily challenges that they might encounter. One of the main issues, they are facing is funding. They want you to help them to keep on helping our young women. For more information contact:

Our youths are living with many harms on a daily basis: teens pregnancy, HIV,  high rate of suicide, unemployment, gangsterism.. and one of the biggest curse is substance abuse. In fact, 80% of SA's male youth deaths are alcohol related and drug consumption according to SANCA Drug Awareness. It is estimated to be twice the world norm and The SA National Youth Risk Behaviour Survey adds that 15% of pupils admitted to using over-the-counter drugs to get high: 11.5% of pupils had tried at least one drug such as heroin, mandrax, tik, dagga... The abuse of all forms of drugs is a huge problem that needs urgent attention. Hence, organisations such as Ocean Breeze Youth Empowerment want to assist with anti-substance abuse. Mujahied Ebrahim and Pushana Gordon, both from Ocean Breeze Youth Empowerment came to us to talk about this epidemic our communities are faced with. Not only does young people use drugs a lot, but many of them overdosed as well, it is imperative to help them, to