The humanities and beyond
July 27, 2017
Ntobeko’s learning curve
July 27, 2017
Hope is a strategy
The majority of South Africa’s children are growing up in poverty. But in true South African spirit, there’s a growing movement to reach out and help those in need. One such initiative has emerged in the Mother City.
The latest review of the situation of South Africa’s children, published by the University of Cape Town, indicates that 63% of our nation’s young are living below the upper bound poverty line. That amounts to nearly 4 million children who are living in households with incomes of just more than R900 per person per month.
Poverty can cause despair and a sense of hopelessness, which is why the Days of Hope initiative was started. The organisation aims to “sow seeds of hope” for the children of Cape Town and surrounding areas.
GIVING HOPE TO A CITY
Days of Hope is the brainchild of Paul Jones and Danny Diliberto. Paul is the co-founder of 1 Million Strong, a collaborative platform to support the next generation of leaders, while Danny runs Ladles of Love, a roving soup kitchen.
The model is based on a collaboration with various partners that each offer different capacity-building and support programmes at schools where the morale of pupils, teachers and principals is low.
Explaining the rationale behind the project, Paul says, “Many kids are living in a warped world with a totally dysfunctional value system. Days of Hope gives us the opportunity to expose them to new ways of thinking, encourage them to dream, and help them make a paradigm shift in how they view themselves. We want to be able to give them a measure of hope.”
