On the 21st of August 2021 Africa Unite in partnership with the Institute for Healing of Memories and conducted a Healing Journey of youth and rebuilding sustainable cities and communities Lamontville eMoyeni Creche. The program empowered the young people in the community of Lamontville where we looked at different topics but we first acknowledged the young women who are part of the community and trying to make a difference in their community through this amazing work and also bearing in mind that August was a woman’s Month, then moved on to how Covid-19 has affected or impacted youngsters and their families we realised that since the lockdown there has been a lot of challenges young people face and lot of them have spoken out on how this has impacted the both positive and negative.
We then looked at how the unrest has affected people differently some in a positive way and some in a negative way depending on everyone. We spoke about how it had taken away the lives of the innocents and made it clear that we as black people are on our own. Some spoke on how bad it was for the people to conduct themselves the way they did but also it was not necessary to murder people. The barricading and killings that followed also trigged a moment in the apartheid era where people (especially the Blacks) did not have the freedom of movement in our own areas, and some spoke on how things were tough back home but then with the looting, they managed to put food on the table this situation differed from person to person.
The session also investigated the 17 SDG goals which were elaborated and especially the importance of these goals and why where they were compiled. We even implemented a few which are eliminating poverty where we launched a planting project where the youth in the community planted carrots, spinach, lettuce, and more hence this led us to the importance of gardening and how could it be positively affect our economy in a long.
We then closed the session with balloons where we all blew our own as a symbol of hope to us as the young people of the community and to the community as a whole in the name of the bloodshed through the period of the unrest and this covid-19 as well as new beginnings towards this gardening project which will bring positive results to the community.
Way forward
- We Launched a Gardening Project
- To Sustain and maintain the Garden
- Make sure that it serves the both the needy and the youth to at least sustain themselves throughout
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