The volunteer-led magazine with ever-changing voices exploring different perspectives on today’s rapidly-evolving world.
To celebrate the fact it was Human Rights Day this week, Projects Abroad volunteers went into the centre of Cape Town to ask South Africans about the issue of Human Rights. Armed with whiteboards, pens and leaflets detailing 26 different human rights, volunteers set out to inform individuals about their constitutionally guaranteed human rights.
The residents of Lavender Hill have developed various projects to improve their neighbourhood and combat the 42% rate of unemployment. Each of the projects has been created to tackle a particular issue, such as the housing deficiency, and they also provide skills training for the jobless.
As shocking as it may sound, the chance of reoffending in South Africa is 90% according to Clinton Osbourn, programme manager at Young in Prison (YiPSA). Young in Prison is a non-profit organisation that helps rehabilitate young people who have been to prison so that they can go back to school, get a job and start afresh.
In Cape Town, homeless people are numerous and their presence is prominent. You can find them at traffic lights begging for money, outside a McDonalds imploring you to buy them a meal because they have not eaten for days or loitering in front of your favourite bar, waiting to pounce on the next intoxicated person. The daily routine of street people is often too insignificant for society to even give it a second thought. Intrigued by the presumably monotonous lives of these supposedly second-rate citizens, I decided to see what a day in the lives of the homeless is really like.
#Enoughisenough echoed women from the Methodist Church from around the world at the Grand Parade, Cape Town, on Saturday 1 November. Weeks before the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, more than 60 protestors dressed in black to express their solidarity with women facing rape, abuse, torture and violence.
The Hard Livings, The Clever Kids, Thug Life, The Americans and The Junky Funky Kids… the list goes on. These names, as infamous as they are comical, have become ingrained in the vocabulary of almost every Capetonian, regardless of social economic status, colour or creed. It is no wonder this pernicious integration has occurred; with over 130 gangs in the Cape Flats area alone with membership in the hundreds of thousands, the effect of gang culture pervades the lives of many.
Homophobia in South Africa is widespread. Despite being the only country in Africa to allow same-sex marriage and having a constitution that prohibits unfair discrimination on the basis of sex, gender or sexual orientation, there are still countless problems faced by the LGBT community and perhaps the most shocking of these is the increasingly common practice of ‘corrective rape’.
‘It is in your hands now.’ These are the words uttered by Nelson Mandela in a speech for his 90th birthday tribute in London which inspired International Nelson Mandela Day. On 18 July, the birthday of Madiba, every person in the world is invited to dedicate at least 67 minutes of his or her time in the service of the others. The 67 minutes is a tribute to the 67 years in which Madiba dedicated his life to defend the cause of justice.
With nearly 140 million women worldwide living with the consequences of circumcision, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has defined FGM as ‘all procedures that involve partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons’. This harmful practice is found extensively in 28 African countries. For instance, in Sudan, the rate of FGM cases is as high as 98%; whereas in Kenya, Togo and Nigeria it varies between 20% and 50%. It is also practised in communities of the Middle East, in Oman and even Emirates, and even Western Europe.
We all dream of owning our dream home. We plan, save and look forward to the day we can call a house our own. However, for most people who live in the Mitchells Plain area in Cape Town, four walls and a roof can remain a distant dream.
