Development Talk

Youth Changing the World

 

May 10, 2011

Youth implementing solution to problems concerning their communities.Photo: Development Works,Flickr

Last month was Global Youth Service Day (GYSD), the largest service event in the world that mobilises the million of youth and children who are dedicated to the improvement of their communities through service and service learning.

This American initiative was established in 1989. It was organised by Youth Service America and its Global Youth Service Network and consists of international partners, sponsors and volunteers.

Every year, more than 100 countries and millions of children and youth work together with schools, youth organisations, nonprofits, community and faith-based organisations, volunteer and national service programme, government agencies, faith communities and other individuals to tackle the world’s most critical issues and change their communities on Global Youth Service Day.

According to gysd.org, during the weekend of April 23-25, 2010, millions of youth took active part in thousands of service and service-learning initiatives in order to solve problems concerning their communities.

Check out some interesting stats from the website:

 Volunteers participated on 6 continents.

 3,091 projects registered on GYSD.org.

 648 grants disbursed to youth, nonprofits and schools, totaling $716,000.

 Thousands of media placements with close to 2 billion media impressions.

 1,165 local, state, and federal government officials with 35 state proclamations; 27 co-sponsors for the U.S. Senate resolution; 44 co-sponsors for the U.S. House resolution

Get involved!

Check out this interesting article from The Times following a report made by the UN and the SA Human Rights Commission. The article discusses South Africa continues to neglect its most vulnerable, in particular, children, as they are negatively impacted by a lack of a proper home, health care and schooling.

Some of the report’s troubling findings include:

• 64%, or 11.9million, of the country’s 18.6million children live in poverty. Many of them are Aids orphans – about 5.5million people have HIV/Aids in South Africa, more than in any other country

• Only 54% of the HIV-positive children who should be on antiretroviral treatment are receiving it;

• More than 270 babies and their mothers die after birth on average a day, mainly due to HIV/Aids, and the maternal mortality rate has increased by 80% since 1990;

• 582000 children who should be attending high school are not – 28% don’t have the money for fees and 15% because “education is useless”;

• Of 56500 children who were victims of violent crime in 2009-2010, 27417 were raped or molested. Of those, 29% were aged between 0 and 10.

Read the full article below:

***
The Times: Young,hungry,helpless

http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/article986417.ece/Young-hungry-helpless

UN,USA

In the past, crime and corporal punishment dictated the schools in South Africa, but security has made it so students can now receive an education in a safe and protected environment. Now, the emphasis is on educating students through life skills and technology. Doing so has decreased the volume of teenagers getting pregnant and abusing drugs (such as Tek). This sort of education and raising awareness is largely due to the efforts of Love life and HIV/AIDS campaigns found in communities such as Khayelitsha, Langa and Gugulethu.

Modern technology has allowed people to improve their lives and become more educated on issues such as Medicine, education, and current affairs.

Some say that internet access in South Africa has increased the knowledge of today’s youth, so that by the time they enter university, they are familiar with a lot of the school subjects.  10 years ago, it was not as easy for youth to learn materials as they did not have many resources or examples to reference. Instead of using the internet, a student would have to go to a library and tour an area in person in order to fully comprehend an idea.

These days, if a student is unsure about a topic, they can search on various websites and in class, a teacher can project material onto a big screen for all students to utilize.

Long time ago, students could only access computers when they attended higher institutions. Currently, we have juniors and high schools offering computers, both practically and theoretically.

Once a student understands a computer and learns how to utilize the internet, they become more self-sufficient, which in turn, gives them more knowledge and learning opportunities. The use of internet also helps a student succeed in University and most importantly, it allows them to think larger and live open-mindedly.

References:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/813305/

how_far_has_modern_technology_improved.html

Photo: flickr

Children are kept out of the streets during summer holidays,Photo: Development Works

Children are kept out of the streets during summer holidays,Photo: Development Works

During the holidays, incidents are more likely to occur as children are away from safe environments and spend more time on the street. Often, children are left without a guardian, and get involved in substance abuse that leads to a loss of control and self-worth.

To solve this issue, the Sports, Recreation, and Amenities department is hosting youth development programmes and leadership holiday programmes that began in early December an will continue until the end of January.

(more…)

Why are our children violent?

 

November 17, 2010

Children need to be loved and protected from violence to stop them from becoming perpetrators of violence themselves. Photo: Thetravellinged via Flickr

Children need to be loved and protected from violence to stop them from becoming perpetrators of violence themselves. Photo: Thetravellinged via Flickr

South Africa was recently shocked by the gang-rape of a school girl by three of her fellow pupils. The girl was drugged and raped while other pupils watched and filmed it on their cellphones. Why are some children in South Africa so violent and what can be done about it?

Some people have spoken about a “culture of violence” in South Africa, but implying that violence is inherently South African is not helpful. The cause of the problem needs to be found and addressed.

South Africa is not the only country that struggles with violent and dysfunctional youth. Safe Families Safe Children, an international group of renowned child rights organisations, including ACER Brasil, The International Children’s Trust, JUCONI Ecuador, JUCONI Mexico, New Life (South Africa) and Railway Children (UK, India and East Africa) “promote access for highly excluded children from violent homes around the world to the support and services they require to recover from their traumatic life experiences and gain sustainable access to their rights”.

In this organisation’s “Manifesto of Change” they site the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study which “found a clear link between the adverse experiences in childhood (including physical, emotional or sexual abuse and living in households with domestic violence) and a range of physical, emotional and social problems, including: heart disease, obesity, depression, alcoholism, sexual promiscuity, substance abuse, teenage pregnancy, rape and poor job performance”. (more…)

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