 South Africa
Park Student Profile
Andiswa Nyovane
Hometown: South Africa, Cape Town, Khayelitsha (Harare)
Born: Eastern Cape, Cala
Andiswa describes life in South Africa:
“Khayelitsha” my home, my township, my community!
- Khayelitsha means “a new home.”
- Khayelitsha is one of the well known biggest Townships in South Africa.
- It is situated on the outskirts of the City of Cape Town.
- Only poor people live in the Township (blacks), Xhosa is the largest tribe, then Zulu, Sesotho and Setswane.
- Houses are made out of zinc, cardboards, sails and houses are nucleated.
- Xhosa-speaking people are the largest tribe. There public school
and public clinics.
- It is a new home to every one who lives in it because most people are
originally coming from the Eastern cape (villages), in search of a better
life, better opportunities, and better educational opportunities.
Living in Khayelitsha!
Expect to see a crowd of people around the streets of Khayelitsha,
children playing in the streets, people socializing, people chilling. Noise,
air, water pollution is every where. You find people trying to make a living
by selling sweets, meat, fruit and vegetables, clothes, home made fast food
on the streets. “Shibeens/ Taverns” refers to the Township bar. You can not
miss out on a “braai,” a South African term meaning ‘barbeque.” We travel around
via public transport.
The Youth of Khayelitsha
Poverty, crime, unemployment, lack of housing, drug abuse,
teenage
pregnancy, and HIV/AIDS are the negative challenges that we are
facing in a day to day basis as the youth of Khayelitsha. These are not only
affecting us but also the community is suffering.
Youth Activities
- Organizations that empower youth in fighting against these challenges,
through sport, African dancing, leadership workshops, our music, indigenous
games and street games.
- Khayelitsha Craft market, which helps lot of unemployed to help them selves
through their talent of making beautiful craft work, which they sell them to
tourists who come to visit Khayelitsha.
Active Youth in Action and Sport Leaders
In Khayelitsha, I was personally involved with Active Youth in Action and
Sport Leaders, whose aim is to develop sport in our community, by using sport as a tool to fight
crime. Our slogan is and was “Kicking AIDS Out,” and we motivated
other youth that there is a hope out there - together we can
fight HIV/AIDS. Our duties:
- Organizing sport activities, training kids and playing games them to keep
them away from streets, with the aim of keeping them away from sexual abuse;
- Forming different sport clubs within the community; and
- Helping with our community garden, which feeds the poorest of the poor
families and the rest of the community.
Development in Khayelitsha
The government
is building more schools and providing social services and housing. The
process is very slow as we know South Africa is still a developing
country. The private sector is also making a contribution by building shopping
malls.
Andiswa's Dream
I have a dream, my dream is to change and develop my community to make it a
better home for everyone. A lot needs to done in Khayelitsha. A lot of
people, especially the youth, have great hope that their lives will change one day,
and I just want to help them see that there is hope somewhere in the world
and that together we can improve our lives. I feel so lucky and blessed to be a
part of Park University, which has the same dream that I have. Being here,
I feel like I will be able to make my dream come true, not only for my community
for the rest of communities all over the world. Khayelitsha is my home and I love my community!
About South Africa
Government: Republic
President: Thabo Mbeki (1999)
Geography: South Africa, on the continent’s southern tip, is
bordered by the Atlantic Ocean on the west and by the Indian Ocean on the south
and east.
Population: 44,187,637
Capital cities: Pretoria (Legislative), Cape Town (capital and
largest city), Bloemfontein (judicial capital)
Official languages: IsiZulu, IsiXhasa, Afrikaans, Sepedi, Xitsongo,
Sesotho, Setswane, English, Venda, and other
For more information on South Africa, visit
www.southafrica.info
For more info on my City, Cape Town, visit:
www.cape-town.info
For more pictures on South African Townships and Cape Town, visit
www.eveandersson.com/south-africa/cape-town
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