By Frerieke van Bree

Why?

Because they deserve it! because we can.

How?

starting this 2009 with:

– making a book with all their produced material in 2008 (slide shows a preview into the book)

– teaching the students more leadership skills

– teaching blogging, video editing, mobile reporting

– help the students start their own site: students4humanity and make a difference in their community

What for?

To raise money and awareness to allow those bright minds to individually thrive in life, in University, in their community and on a global scale!

Students are the voice of tomorrow. Youngsters are the spring of the nation! kids are the leaders of the next generation!

The COSAT learners are the most amazing and inspiring individuals I met in my life! I have learned a lot about myself via them, and still do.
Youth empowerment in the Townships of South Africa is needed. Poverty is a daily issue. Role models are needed! Guest teachers wanted!
Connections wanted! Resources welcome! Donations lovely!

Those students want to learn, they want to make a difference, they want to lead by serving others, they want to set the example in the new South Africa, be part of transformation in Africa! All they need is opportunities and Eye-openers to see the opportunities. Those students are the change you want to see in the world!

The work the students have done in the ‘art and leadership’ classes in 2008 is amazing: photographs, artworks and essays to show you what matters to them. Those 15 year old individuals have each found their mission in life. Let them inspire you to stay true to your own mission! Help me get this book published! Help me get their site online! Help me get the message out there, really…help me get those students and this school (the only school in South Africa with IT as a matric subject, with such an amazing free education!) be famous! Be creative in your cooperation!

help me with this list:

NEEDED:
– a publish house for the 200 pages visual book
– a WordPress MU guru, willing to set up the students4humanity with buddypress and mobilepress applications
– designers (for the book, the site, marketing material)
– user-interface designer (for the site)
– prepaid cards (to let the students be online on their mobile phone)
– Mobile phones
– IT teachers (anybody into mobile applications? those students do not have computers at home!)
– role models (black intellectuals… we want your motivational talk!)
– a fast internet connection at the school
– bloggers/online media guru’s/marketing consultants we want some courses!
– a schoolbus and a driver!

Ok, I can keep on going. Dream big is what one of the South African bloggers and online professionals, Darren Smith, told me to do.
Hey all you South African bloggers, online professionals, companies, intellectuals, connected ones, tech-savvy people…make sure the next Wordcamp SA is one with lots of color, representative for your country. Make sure the whole South African population is on top of the innovation, online applications, mobile technology. Make sure there will not be another heated discussion about the color of the South African blogger. Invest in the future! Be the change you want to see in the world!

Hey you international community, all you clever entrepreneurs, policy makers,  …the world is your playground. Make sure everybody is having fun! That includes the ones that are not part of your conversation, innovation, partnerships,..at the moment. Be bold. 2009 is waiting for you..

By Frerieke van Bree

What a wonderful time to have a post dedicated to family. Thank you Nezi for your inspiring dedication to transformation in your family! (please read her post below..)
Have a wonderful festive season everybody! Whether or not you are with family… Be like family to all the people around you… and show your appreciation..

Here’s to my family: even though this is another Christmas that I am far away from you all …I’m with you everyday! The greatest gift you can give me is your happiness! And I promise you, I am living mine.. Love ya all!

 
By Nezi Busakwe

What matters to me????

My family is a matter to me. We are 4children 2girls and 2boys. Since I was young not even a year old my father was working on mines and he is still working there trying to find something for his family to eat, trying to satisfy us and make to be like other families.

He did this for years and pretends to enjoy it. Sometimes at work the boss would say they are many for that particular mine so the must be others leaving the mine. This had happened to my father many times, first time they gave him not working for about 3 months and not paying him. But my parents managed to give us best education. If I look at our situation at home it always remind what I am here. And the answer came to make a difference to my family.

My parents are always making sure that we get education. My older brother is doing his second year at PETEC. Sometimes I ask GOD why did he made us? Did he made us so that we can be an example of suffering people or what? When I see my brother not going to school because of money, I start to ask myself questions. Why I am a student, busy studying but at the end of the day I would not go to university. The last level of education? but the answer just came and said I was born to make a
different.

Sometimes I feel real bad when my father is ill because of the work he did. My heart hurts that I get food and everything because of my father’s life. Not forgetting my mother who is a star to me, my role model, who always live for her children.

IM HERE TO MAKE A DIFFERENT FOR MY FAMILY!!!!!!!

By Malizole Sandlana

What matters to me the most is see my mother having the best life she could get while she is still alive. We grew up in rural area and life was hard but my mother worked hard 2 see that we heard clothes on back and having a good education.

My father worked here in Cape Town while we were staying in Eastern Cape. In all of that the money that my father was giving as was not enough because we were 8 living together.

The reason why my mother is “WHAT MATTERS TO ME THE MOST” is the fact that she is a fighter and its very rare to see a woman being a fighter and that is something I admire about her.

AS IT’S SAID THAT IF YOU STRIKE A WOMAN YOU STRIKE A ROCK

I lv my mama.

Where did we go wrong?
Down the road of Africa

Africa my beginning, my ending.
I will die here ‘cos I was born here
Friends and enemies you have
I also have ‘cos I’m an African
If you are an enemy of Africa,
You are my enemy as well.
If I get rich, I will get rich in Africa and
If I get poor, I will get poor in Africa.
Behold because Africa is here to stay

Down the road is the way we should go
For Africans to remain truly Africans
your colour alone shows how much power, strength and perseverance you have in you Africa
Poor or rich, I proudly remain an African

Yours is to love not to hate
Yours is to lead not to be led
Yours is to build not to destroy
Please Africa forgive but not forget
In order for you to obtain your ultimate purpose and goals.

Nourish your youth today to secure a better tomorrow Africa.
Listen in order to be an adviser to other continents.
Listen to your children in Zimbabwe, Algeria, Nigeria and Somalia, when they all cry for your love, understanding and help.
Your natural resources are enjoyed by the foreign world while your children are starving and dying because of hunger.

It’s about time we asked “Where did we go wrong?”
Let’s strive to go down the road as Africans.

By Frerieke van Bree

Tebello Makeke is a 15 year old student at the center of science and technology in the underprivileged community of Khayelitsha, Cape Town. Please let her story of what matters to her inspire you today on this international blog action day 2008. Let this story inspire you to take your own action in creating ways to eradicate poverty!

By Tebello Makeke

What matters to me are teenagers. Their behavior matters to me the way they do things. Lot of teenagers do
things that they regret at the end of the day. So many teenagers get pregnant at this age because they are confused they need someone to be an example. We as teenager like to have role models.

Now that I know what we need I am also a teenager so I know what we need that will be easy for them to understand because I know what we are going throw. It is not like when an elder tells it because we have that thing about “you have done these things so why don’t you want us to do them”. If they hear it from me someone who is on the same age as they are.

Telling them which way to take that will be better. They will have this thing about if Tebello can do it why can we. Teenagers like to challenge each other. We believe that no one understand us but if I am standing up as a teenager telling them that I am going throw the same stage that they are and I know how it feels like to need attention because that is what we need to be loved to be taken care of . I would really like to sat a great example to the teenagers. I hate seeing them going down while I am have watching them doing nothing that Is biting me in side. I believe that if I commit my self in to helping them realize themselves, love themselves that would make a different

Looking at girls drinking beer in the tavern, having babies at this age that they can’t even take care of them. Seeing them not obeying their parents living their homes. That make me feel like I am not doing what I was suppose to do. That make me want to take a step and say I will stand up for teenagers even if they can say things about me. Teens lives matters a lot to me.

LET’S TAKE CARE OF OUR SELVES
LOVE FOR TEENAGERS

By Frerieke

Today, after my wonderful Free WI-FI Friday (the school is on holiday, so no teaching today), after my 2km swim, right there in the sauna of the gym…right there… I just got it….. I really got it…… >> I LOVE PEOPLE. Swimming is my meditation.. I don’t think, just become one with the water and enjoy.

The sauna……the sauna is the place where i start talking to my inner self, the place where i connect with my own mission/vision!

Today, the conversation went like this: “Fre, why do you do what you do? Why love to the world? Why transformation in Africa? Why ‘making a difference’? Are you doing it because you want to be liked? Show of how good you take care of others? Be ‘interesting’ by being different then your friends in the Netherlands? (Haha, lucky me: today the sauna was empty so I could actually say those words out loud..)

And you know what…as much as I wanted to scream: NO I don’t do this work for me….. I actually couldn’t. To be honest… yeah I am doing it for me. I choose the life I am living here in Africa. I choose to be liked, measured by the amount of care for others or ‘the difference I make in a persons life’. (yep..rather this then being liked because of my money, or being liked because I force you to like me)

So my next question to myself was: “Aha you selfish bitch, so what do you really give and how much would you give if there wasn’t anything in it for you?” That is a freaky question. Then I remembered all the great feedback on our website from our students, how much our work matters to them…. and I wondered: the students satisfaction, is that just an extra to my own fulfillment?”And then it came to me… Fre, you love people.

I believe in the goodness of man kind, even the guy attacking me. I believe in people and i believe that each voice matters! And hell yeah…I’ll spend my entire life making sure you all feel loved! And hey… it is such a great ‘extra’ that you’ll like me for it.

The COSAT students > oh yeah do I love them! Creative, eagerness to learn, care for each other and community, the stand in life they take…. To be really honest with you? Nelson Mandela will have some great competition!

The dance of life is magical…

… Talking about dancing….. Please enjoy this video that one of the students made! South African dance!

this is what matters to him

” Peace Tiles is a growing network of people using the arts to inspire social change. Peace Tiles are being used to brighten the spotlight on issues, raise funds to support causes, and inspire hope in communities around the world, .. ” http://peacetiles.mixedmedia.us/

By Frerieke van Bree

Ingredients:

50 bright COSAT students, 50 beautiful visions of what matters to them, lots of paint, scissors, magazines,..

Additional tools:

Heat! (oeh what a cold day and room), Anasuya and Fre for the explanations and fun, photo camera’s, …and whatever the students brought with them (from sand, to beats, to leaves, to fabric) and lots of plastic bags to keep the mess out of this examination hall.

The results?

50 very creative and diverse Peace Tiles! 50 very enlightened students! and…. a mess …haha of course

What else?

After the session we put all the Tiles together and asked the students which two tiles would represent them (=all students) best. That was such a fun exercise. It really made them feel as “being one”. Everybody was very energetic when they finally agreed on the two. After their decision we announced that those chosen two tiles will be presented at the school assembly next week. Exciting.

And now?

Next is to create a mural with the tiles, preferable somewhere in the community, to spread their inspiring messages not only here, online, but also directly to the people the students care about.

That was fun!

Please keep on posting your comments to the students here on the site. They check in  here quite often and really appreciate your words!

By Lwazi Dyantyi

What matters to me is my friends and me.

The reason why I say that my life matters to me is that I have been and still going through a lot of painful things alone. When my mother passed away I was lost because she was my guider and adviser. My father is a Junkie and he don’t care about me and he says that I must be “INDEPENDENT” to him. That’s very painful to be told by the only parent you are left with. I know that good and bad times come and go so it’s part of life. Now I have to make and take positive things and choices of my life. I love myself no matter what the situation is I am only me NOBODY ELSE.

Many of my friends are fortunate than me they still have both of their parents. They are given everything that they want at any time than me. I once had o low self esteem because of the situation I was facing. I advice them to LOVE,CARE&RESPECT them while they still have them both. I have seen that most of the youngster get LOST and start to be CORRUPT when one or both of their parents died. I don’t want my friends to be like that when that time comes in their lives. I try by all means to make or prepare them that PATH when that time came. I love my friends very much and I care for them.

Yes in life there are GOOD and BAD times but I am glad that that time came when I loved GOD because he is my savior. I love myself no matter what the situation is because they are making me to be a STRONG and BRAVE man in my future. I LOVE MYSELF VERY MUCH THANK YOU.

NOTE BY Fre: for more pictures that the students have taken, please visit our gallery

By Frerieke van Bree

Nwabisa Dyonashe is a 15 year old South African girl who lives in Township Khayelitsha near Cape Town. She is a 10th grade student of COSAT (Center of science and Technology). She is one of our inspiring students of the art and leadership initiative that Anasuya and I started at the school.

What inspires me so much about these students is their willingness to learn, to make a difference, to be great. The difficulties that a lot of them have to face on a day to day base are enormous. The responsibilities those 15 year olds have to take, go way beyond what I could have imagined when i was 15. Yes my teenage years were not always the greatest, but i start appreciating all opportunities i had more an more by seeing those students here in Khayelitsha apreciate what they have got.

Enjoy this short, but very powerful text of Nwabisa, together with the pictures she took of her house and family:

By Nwabisa Dyonashe

I live with my grandmother with my brother and sister. She is a pensioner so she doesn’t have enough money for buying everything in the house. So I have committed myself to working in a salon every Saturday and Sunday to help her. I help her by buying things that are finished and buy things that are needed in school and maybe a pair of shoes for either my brother or sister. Doing this for my family really matters to me. I don’t feel like people have neglected us. I just know it’s my life and I am living it. And I don’t expect people to feel sorry for me.