A refugee girl in one of the tents used to house people displaced by xenophobic attacks in South Africa in 2008. Photo: Development Works

Beautiful! Exquisite! Professional! Captivating! This is what everyone sang after a well-presented musical play by Lawrence House, a refugee children’s home, which forms part of the Scalabrini Centre’s welfare programmes.

The show, commemorating Lawrence House’s 5^th anniversary, was entitled “Mad Word” and was advertised by word of mouth. The “mad word” spread and it generated more than a hundred audience members.

While some disturbing incidences of xenophobia have flared up in South Africa after the 2010 FIFA World Cup, and a number of foreign nationals have left their homes in fear, this show displayed the theme of unity and love and emphasised the importance of “a happy family”.

Formed in 2005, Lawrence House is dedicated specifically to the care of abandoned and unaccompanied refugee minors. Its motto is the Bible verse “I was a stranger and you accepted me”. The House and its separate teenager cottage can accommodate up to 30 children. Boys and girls between the ages of 6 and 18 are taken in. Currently the House shelters children from Angola, DRC, Rwanda and Zimbabwe.

We at Creative Consulting & Development Works are firm believers in equal rights and observing the Constitution of South Africa, that is why we have also worked with the NGO for refugees, Adonis Musati Project.

If children from different walks of life can come together and use their talents to put on such a wonderful show, why can’t we as adults bury our differences and work together as well?

Nelson Mandela's prison cell on Robben Island. Photo: Samantha Marx

On International Nelson Mandela Day, people all over the world are meant to spend 67 minutes doing something to benefit their community. Creative Consulting & Development Works has some ideas of how you can get involved in your community as well.

The man behind this day

Anti-apartheid activist and first democratic president of South Africa, Nelson Rholihlala Mandela,  is the inspiration behind this day, because even though he was jailed by the apartheid government for 27 years, he never saw his release from prison as time for revenge. After his release on 11 February 1990 he advocated peace, reconciliation and the rebuilding of the South African nation.

According to www.mandeladay.com Nelson Mandela gave 67 years of his life fighting for the rights of humanity. “All we are asking is that everyone gives 67 minutes of their time, whether it’s supporting your chosen charity or serving your local community.”

What can you do?

Creative Consulting & Development Works, as a research, evaluation and communications consultancy working in a development context, often deals with non-profit organisations and we would like to suggest that you volunteer to help some of them on Mandela Day or any other day of the year!

Mamelani Projects

Development Works conceptualised and facilitated a strategic planning workshop for Mamelani Projects in 2007. This Voluntary Association runs health education and youth development projects locally in various communities. Contact them on info@mamelani.org.zaor phone 021 448 2725.

Networking AIDS Community of South Africa

One of the Community Based Organisations in the NACOSA network.

NACOSA is a national civil society network of HIV and AIDS and TB role players, which includes NGOs, CBOs, FBOs and other developmental organisations, who seek to contribute to reducing the impact of HIV and AIDS.

Development Works did an evaluation for NACOSA of one of four components to the Global Fund Project, the Community Based Response to HIV/AIDS, as well as an evaluation of NACOSA’s 3-Tier Model, which comprises capacity building, networking and promoting dialogue.

You can contact NACOSA at info@nacosa.org.za or on 021 461 7348 and perhaps get involved in a Community Based Organisation close to you.

Adonis Musati Project

Recently, Development Works presented a Preferred Futuring workshop to the NGO for refugees, Adonis Musati Project. AMP provides clothing, blankets, food packs, medicine and toiletries to refugees and help them to compile and send out their CVs. They help refugees to access transport, accommodation and training. The Adonis Musati Project also has a halfway house for refugee children and single mothers.

You can help Adonis Musati by providing food or toiletries, volenteering to transport goods, assisting on week mornings in the refugee office, or making a cash donation. Contact AMP on 021 448 3348 or email Gayle at gayle@adonismusatiproject.org.

View the video below on the Preferred Futuring workshop that we conducted for the Adonis Musati Project as part of our Corporate Social Responsibility.

Photo taken by Anatelle Ford for the Adonis Musati Project.

More than a decade ago, Archbishop Desmond Tutu defined Ubuntu as an ethic which is upheld by someone  who has a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that he or she belongs in a greater whole and is diminished when others are humiliated or diminished, when others are tortured or oppressed.’ In short, he described ubuntu as the essence of being human.

But what is the meaning of these words in the face of the mistreatment of refugees in South Africa? In front of the Department of Home Affairs, there are always refugees who have been sleeping on the pavement for days, trying to obtain an asylum seeker’s permit. They are not even allowed to use the building’s toilets and risk losing their place in line when seeking this service elsewhere.

 Recently it was said in the news that a lorry reportedly carrying sewerage had sprayed effluent onto hundreds of desperate immigrants young and old   at the Methodist Church refugee camp in Johannesburg.

 For decades, refugees have been a significant feature of the South African landscape.  South Africa has given official recognition to refugees, a move that has been highly appreciated.  However, refugees have experienced varying degrees of acceptance or rejection as they strive to make a living in a foreign land.  

Photo taken by Anatelle Ford for the Adonis Musati Project

 The scenarios presented above and other untold stories, makes one wonder whether the ethics of Ubuntu will remain a political philosophy. Ubuntu calls us to place equal value on all individuals, to raise the voice of those who otherwise cannot do it for themselves. It defines what it really means to be a human being.

The Adonis Musati Project, for one, believes in the spirit of Ubuntu. Named after a young Zimbabwean who died of starvation on the streets of Cape Town, this organisation aims to support refugees in their endeavours to make a life for themselves.

 The Development Works team hopes to support them as much as possible.