Today I was inspired and encouraged after Schalk and I visited small primary school called Ohrigstad Laerskool. The school is got about 120 kids from different races. The kids we just like a family, playing together and not seeing colour and even the teachers are so friendly. The school is 105 years old but it is still kept clean and neat.

The kids are taught to pick every paper on the ground and never beg and thats a rule at the school. And this is happening because…

This is for the leaders of the Glencore Xstrata Sites i.e. Rustenburg and Steelpoort, the leaders and their respective teams are given a small task by Doc to create a database and emails for 100 beneficiaries of their teams and join the website and the first to reach 100 (and must email a excel sheet proof to Doc) will win R2000. And the second competition is for the leaders to conduct life skills menu with their teams and teach the young ones and reflect on it. The first team to complete…

Fourteen friends (all speaking 10 different SA languages and from different Youthzones sites)  embarked on a hiking trip to the Injisuthi region of the Drakensberg. It was a successful trip and experience never to be forgotten. Many lessons were learnt from the hike of which all of them were related to the daily lives of these leaders in their respective communities. Typical examples of lessons learnt varied from teamwork, communication,…

Dr Ngcipe foundation will now be assisting our friends in Somerset East site and continue with the work Youthzones has established. Dr Ngcipe foundation is named after local hero Dr Ngcipe in SE who did lot of missionary work in SA and Lesotho. His daughter Nomabali who is a close friend of mine decided to honour her father and continue living his…

It was amazing to see mamas coming from different provinces and cultures and play football against each other. They became great friends, sharing numbers and for them seeing other mamas from different places from each other having the same passion, one could see in their facial expression how happy they were. They did formal life skill sessionon listening, communication and gossiping as a group. They enjoyed their football, danced together and shared the contacts. The teams were Montana FC…

Zanele Cele (of Umlazi 419, grandmother of Mukeleni Mthembu who is an orphan and plays for Umlazi Juventus FC) called appreciating the impact we made to her grandson and how discipline and focused he is. She said he is also doing well at school. This is an old gogo who just out of the blue ask for my number and called. This is not me making it happen but…

He is a proud family man who is proud of his family. He creates happy environment wherever he is. One can see from his assistants. He is successful and he didn't come from rich family. He is a Soweto champion. He is humble, hard-working and loves people. The same character he portrays when is in his Xstrata office as one of the top managers is the same he does…

On Friday, 25th of October 2013, seven Brazillians from Rio De Janeiro visited Gabon Informal Settlement and hang out with their South African and Mozambican friends. They were accompanied by Schalk, Super Tom and his two lovely kids and myself. It was so amazing their first time to visit informal settlement seeing the real life in SA. The Brazillians group were just…

What a big surprise on Saturday, 05th of October 2013, on my visit to Rustenburg site I found my old friends from Tarlton sites playing top four with our new friends in Ikemeleng in Rustenburg. As I arrived, not seeing the Tarlton lads, I just heard someone shouting 'Doc, I knew you work here because of the soccer balls they are using here' and as I look that…

In the development world, we always expect quick changes or have particular expectation on people we tend to work with. As much it take ages for myself or anyone of us to change (irrespective of the opportunities or environment surrounding us), we should expect the same will apply to others we interact with daily or we work with. Classic example isMushini who…

He never complained or blame but he walked 15km daily to use the internet cafe daily to participate in the youthzones Website launched two months ago and he will create emails for his teammates and register them in the web. Tshepo Mokwele of Rustenburg last won R4000 for his team.…

Is amazing how attitude can affect one's future. One will never know who he or she befriend or ignores in life. I got so many examples whereby one's attitude affects one's chances to progress in life. One coach of a particular team in Rustenburg site didnt allow Schalk and I to train with his team and he simply said that we are from Johannesburg since we were driving GP car…

Eight Leaders (Sibongile, Lindelwa, Ayanda, Cyril, Schalk, Anathi, sipho and Doc) came together discussing issues, stereotypes, characters of all SADC diverse cultural groups. The highlight of the day it was to see how these different individuals were so…

Schalk and myself spent our week meeting our new friends at the new two established youthzones sites in Nkomazi region in Mpumalanga. Mbuzini is a very remote impoverished community and the beauty of this windy area is that is situated at the mountains separated by the border of Mozambique, Swaziland and South Africa and it is also where one can easily visit Samora Machel Memorial. Driekoppies however is bit different and is more still rural and surrounded by beautiful sugar cane plantation…

Today it was not only a remarkable day for the youths in Brandvlei and Tarlton informal settlement but it was also special occasion for  GDE MEC Barbara Creecy as she kept saying that this is a day to remember for her during her visit to Ithuteng High School, where she met all the leaders from other GDE sites and interacted with them, she then interacted with the learners who were learning IT skills from Siyabulela and she then went to play netball with the All Stars netball team. We then…

Blizzards FC wins R4000 for registering more Youthzones Website members in the Xstrata competition. The competition was launched last month between Steelpoort and Rustenburg site. Players of Blizzards FC went to internet cafe everyday and register their members and create emails for them. They chose not to sit around and complain or blame. Congrats to Tshepo…

http://www.bdlive.co.za/business/2012/12/09/bee-killed-self-reliance-says-richard-maponya

Yesterday on the 27th of May 2013, a girl by the name of Sdala in Plot175 informal settlement received a gift of her lifetime. She got a new literally fancy shack with solar panels, lights, water tank, taps, generator, warm walls. She deserve it or rather she earned it simply because she runs boys team, and she plays with them and she is a captain. She always there…

The youth from Ikemeleng Informal settlement, Steelpoort, Lefarakgatla village, Tlhabane and Mogwase had time of their lives as most of them it was their first time to play football in the artificial turf field and also for them to meet their new friends out of their comfort zones and exchange info and hang out together the whole day. It was incredible. My highlight was when…