By Frerieke van Bree

So glad!

The NCDO (= Dutch Government sponsored funder – www.ncdo.nl) wants to support the Students project here in Africa with 16.580 Euro!

Our fund application receives more and more positive responses…
Besides the NCDO, also The Dutch organization KICI (www.kici.nl) has donated 5.000 Euro. The Dutch ‘Stichting Projecten Zuid-Afrika’ has required more information and will get back to us the end of April.

There is one big ‘BUT’….NCDO will only sponsor the 16.580 Euro when we are able to match it!

Our 16.580 euro is partly covered by the 5.000 Euro from KICI and 1.000 Euro from our great friends Rolf & Klaar (Dutch). We have to raise another 10.580 Euro…YES that is a lot! AND…nothing is impossible…

What are we raising money for? Materials and training: Leadership training to teach students (14-18 years) to know how great they are and what a difference they can make for their own community. The students get trained to use modern technologies (digital camera’s, mobile phones, laptops) to source stories in their communities and publish them online on the http://studentsforhumanity.com website in order to connect with students and donors overseas.

Would you like to know more?
Email us: stichtingumeebee@gmail.com

Would you like to make a donation?
ONLINE via paypal or via our Dutch bankaccount

Read below the testimonial of Rolf, one of our donors…

Last February 2009, we (Klaar and myself) were invited by Frerieke to visit the COSAT school in Khayelitsha.

We were impressed by the spirit and motivation of not only the students but the staff as well! This visit made us see that despite the difficulties and harsh conditions in the townships, there are so many inspired people that want to make a difference!

We are more then happy to give some financial support to an initiative that helps to make this change for the better! Compared to the big organizations, they might not have the fancy brochures, big fundraising campaigns and large projects, but what they do comes right from the heart and maybe they even have more passion and devotion since they are in direct touch with the people!

After all, we are all more or less the same when we are born. But some (like us) are lucky to have a protected childhood and get an education, allowing them to get a job, house and a comfortable life. This while others face problems from day one. That difference does not make sense at all.

For us an amount of money not spent on a new surfboard, television or a vacation, but after all these things would not really make a difference in our lives. But it might just be the money that allows someone else to experience and learn things that might make the difference in his life!

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

Khayelitsha is about half an hour drive from the Cape Town city center. A taxi drive with the minibus cost 20 Rand a single trip! 20 Rand is about the same price as a bread and a bottle of milk…. COSAT students sometimes go to bed on an empty stomach… A trip to Cape Town city is a real treat. Especially a trip that includes going up the 1000m high Table Mountain. And even better when there is the opportunity of climbing that big challenge of a mountain!

Thanks to donations from Raquel and her friends from the USA and Marianne and Paul from The Netherlands, this trip was made possible for 65 of the COSAT students! We all had a great time! Check out the video…

Just before this great outing, I unfortunately sprained my ankle badly when a big wave threw me of my windsurfer…aaai…Who was gonna climb that mountain with the students? I enrolled my colleagues from the architectural firm and my flat mates (including our dog, Luka). This was the best thing of the whole trip. The exchange between those bright COSAT learners and this international, young team of colleagues was so inspiring and empowering for everybody!

The day was grey, their shoes are old…rain or clouds, flip-flops….nothing could stop the students from climbing up! So great! I took the cable car up together with a few students and thought we would have to wait forever…. so surprised to see them all up there after 2,5 hours!

A lunch with music and dance in The Waterfront afterwards made the day complete!

Thanks for all the donations! Thanks Makeka design people! Thanks Michiel for the beautiful pictures! Thanks COSAT students for having the courage to overcome another challenge!

Don’t you just love the new Mobile language? Try to read this one from “Missy B”, one of the students that I received after the outing:

“Hey fre…McyB here..jst wana say thanx a lot,again,2 u n al da ada ppl who were involved in makin 2day possbl…Im very grtful,we al a…We had da BEST OF FUN and dap pl we were wt grt n kpt us tuout da whl hke,pity dou we ddn get a chance 2 tank dam personally so plz do dat 4 us-WE LUV U AL…!!!”

By Frerieke van Bree

In my previous post I wrote:

“I am so happy that I was able to step over my own foolish insecurity and explore and exchange at the above mentioned conferences. Great things come out as a result! Me being the connector enables underprivileged students from Khayelitsha to become mobile reporters on Afrigadget !!! “

I am now inviting you to have a look at Erik’s latest post on Afrigadget, find the ‘chipin’ (visual, online fundraising tool) and take your action in making “this” happen! (“this” is the start of a great grass root reporting project all over the developing world!)

Do you want to know more about those amazing South African ladies (Zintle Sithole and Lukhona Lufuta) who will be contributing at the Afrigadget blog?

Find them in one of our old videos: (Zintle is the first lady to speak, followed by Lukho)

(this video goes together with this post: http://lovetotheworld.org/archives/37)

” 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 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.