Development Talk

 

July 13, 2011

Masande Drama Group entetained at the celebration: Photo: Development Works

Catholic Welfare and Development (CDW) has re-launched its Bonne Esperance Refugee Shelter for Woman and Children. They recently celebrated this momentous occasion with a special post –Refugee Day gathering.

The celebration kicked off with CDW Director, Lungisa Huna giving a brief history of Bonne Esperance and linked the work they have done to the Cape Townbased development organization’s mission of unleashing the ability of individuals and supporting community independence.  Representatives Vanessa Coulson and Chae Li Diong from United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) grabbed the audience’s attention as they spoke of the international lawful situation, relating to refugee and why the role of amenities like Bonne Esperance are vital to the local refugee response.

There was an especially memorable moment when a Home Affairs representative addressed the serious challenges asylum seekers face during the application process and how Bonne Esperance has assisted with addressing backlogs.  It was mentioned that Bonne Esperance made sure that “no stones are left unturned” when it comes to helping foreigners in need.  Survivors of conflict, trauma and dislocation from their home countries and former Bonne Esperance residents, also made appearances at the launch to testify to the Shelter staff’s commitment.

According to a press release for the event, through Bonne Esperance, vulnerable women are supported and the cycle of violence is breached and young people are guided towards heartwarming lives. The Shelter also encourages local integration that includes getting South Africans to understand reasons behind refugee migration intoSouth Africaby facilitating educational training in response to the racism, xenophobic attacks that surfaced in May 2008. To date Bonne Esperance has assisted approximately 20 000 people; opened its doors to the defenseless and helped them transition into a reconstruction and healing phase ; as well as assisted over 60 families with rehabilitation and reintegration  into communities around Cape Town.

 

To learn more about the Bonne Esperance Shelter please visit their website by clicking here.

 

 

 

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Kader Asmal (8 October 1934 – 22 June 2011)

 

June 23, 2011

Click for photo source

Creative Consulting and Development Works would like to extend our sympathy to the Asmal family as we join the rest of South Africa in celebrating Kader Asmal and his life as an activist academic and politician.  His ANC comrades hail him as a “selfless man of honour” and that “his death must be a reminder for all of us of the non-racial, non-sexist and prosperous South Africa we committed to build”.  Kader represented the anti-Apartheid movement as a committed ANC member from the United Kingdom during his early professional life after being exiled by the Apartheid government.  In exile he was awarded the Prix UNESCO award for his work in human rights, founded the British Anti-Apartheid Movement, and served as Chairperson for the Irish Apartheid movement.  When he returned to South Africa he became a professor of human rights at University of the Western Cape before he was tapped by the first democratic government to be the Minister of Water and Forestry and later as Minister of Education (a position for which he was appointed personally by President Nelson Mandela).  He was also involved in many other anti-racism and human rights commissions and movements throughout his life. 

Professor Asmal’s memoir will be released in August, and the official launch for the book will be in September at the Open Book Festival in Cape Town.

Full story

Filed under: Africa,Awareness,basic human right,better life for all,Breaking New Ground,civil society,community,Constitution,CREATIVE CONSULTING & DEVELOPMENT WORKS,democracy,DEVELOPMENT WORKS,education,election,ethical leadership,ethics,Family,Fatherhood,forgiveness,Government,History,Hope,identity,Inequality,legislation,nationhood,Parliament,Policy,politics,power,race,reconciliation,rights,social transformation,South Africa,TRC,Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , — admin @ 3:39 pm

A Look Back at Youth Day

 

June 15, 2011

Youth Day, 16 June, is a national holiday that commemorates the 1976 student uprisings in Soweto. In 1953 the National Party government of South Africa introduced The Bantu Education Act, which segregated the education system along the lines of race. While this act enabled more children to attend school, it forced children of color into a secondary and substandard education system designed to produce a more docile workforce.  Overwhelming frustration began to take hold of communities as a result of this exclusionary educational system causing many children to drop out of school. In 1976, the government took another step to alienate the majority of non-white South Africans when they introduced the compulsory use of Afrikaans in classes starting from Grade 7.  As the majority of South Africans did not speak Afrikaans as their first language, teachers were not able to teach their subjects and students had difficulties learning. Very dissatisfied with the direction the government had taken the education system, the youth in Soweto decided to demonstrate. Over 20.000 students gathered on 16 June to march to the office of the department of education in Booysens to express their dissatisfaction.  

Hector Pieterson

 The peaceful demonstrators were met by armed police and military vehicles. Without warning, a policeman shot into the crowd.  The unprovoked shot tore through the crowd and struck twelve year old Hector Pieterson. The photo of his lifeless body has become a symbol of uprisings in Soweto. 

  The official number of deaths after the brutal conflict is only 23, but unofficial numbers range anywhere from 200-600 and most of the victims were younger than 23. The student uprisings of 1976 were a turning point in the long struggle for liberation and helped to guide South Africa to a more inclusive, democratic order.  As South Africans stop work to remember this day, let’s all take a moment to remember the lessons history has taught us.

Filed under: Access to Information,Africa,Awareness,basic human right,better life for all,Breaking New Ground,children,civil society,community,CREATIVE CONSULTING & DEVELOPMENT WORKS,democracy,development,DEVELOPMENT WORKS,developmental state,dialogue,education,ethical leadership,forgiveness,Government,healing,History,Hope,identity,Inequality,race,social transformation,South Africa,spatial poverty,Uncategorized,youth — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — admin @ 12:05 pm

A Celebration of Life: Albertina Sisulu (October 21, 1918 – June 2, 2011)

 

June 6, 2011

Photograph by: Simon Mathebula

Creative Consulting and Development Works joins the rest of the world in mourning the loss and celebrating the legendary life of Nontsikelelo Albertina Sisulu activist, mother and liberation icon. MaSisulu made her mark on history by standing up for human rights and dignity for all people during the dark years of Apartheid era South Africa as the wife of activist and politician Walter Sisulu as well as in her own right as a member of the ANC Women’s League. One of her most notable stands was when she and other ANC Women’s league members led all women demonstrations of civil disobedience against the pass laws in 1956. Thousands of women took their fight against racial and gender oppression to the world stage by marching to the Union buildings in Pretoria to protest against the unfair classification system that had for so long restricted the everyday lives of the majority of South Africans.

She will be remembered as a graceful pillar of justice, who maintained a strong commitment to her family and country throughout some of the most chaotic times in South African history.

Her legacy lives on through the Albertina Sisulu Foundation and Albertina Sisulu Multi-Purpose Resource Centre

Filed under: Africa,basic human right,better life for all,children,civil society,community,CREATIVE CONSULTING & DEVELOPMENT WORKS,democracy,ethical leadership,Family,feminism,forgiveness,Gender,History,holistic,Hope,identity,Inequality,marginalised,peace,poverty,Prison,race,reconciliation,social transformation,South Africa,Uncategorized,women — Tags: , , , , , , , — admin @ 9:56 am

Youth write about culture in World Bank competition

 

October 5, 2010

Youth take part in a diversity workshop facilitated by Development Works. The World Bank is also running a writing competition to promote awareness of culture among youth.

Youth take part in a diversity workshop facilitated by Development Works. The World Bank is also running a writing competition to promote awareness of culture among youth.

Do you have a talent for writing, but you think you are too young to make an impact? Are you proud of your culture and do you want to share it with the world? People might differ in terms of the languages they speak, the way they dress and eat, but we all have dreams that we pursue. If you are less than 25 years of age, this is your time to shine. (more…)

Filed under: arts,Communications,CREATIVE CONSULTING & DEVELOPMENT WORKS,cultural issues,DEVELOPMENT WORKS,dialogue,identity,media,youth — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — admin @ 12:04 pm
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