Youth in Dialogue - Nelson Mandela Foundation

View of Mthatha, Eastern Cape.
can take on these things. We
facilitate, saying “You know
how to do these things, but we
are reminding you that this is
the way.” So, we are saying,
“In African culture this is how
things used to be, we used to
sit around under the trees.”
That’s why in our dictionaries
we have lekgotla and imbizo.
These words emanate from
our origins and this is where
community issues were dealt
with, community problems
were solved. So let’s go back to
basics, “an African solution to
a global problem”. We are now
making that a practical thing.
If we could we would
conduct these dialogues and
say, “Stop your television and
your big billboards and engage
communities directly.” Know
what the person in the street,
what the neighbour, the person
in the shack in the village, in
the farmhouse is saying.
Because they know how
to solve these problems, but
it’s only when you’re there
that you get to know that
people have solutions. Then
you probe it. We’re not an
implementing agency, we’re
just the catalyst.
Empowering
Communities
What we’re doing is
empowering communities to
ensure that they deal with their
problems and they find ways,
resources, within or amongst
themselves, to deal with the
issues.
This is because people
have a tendency to sit back
and waiting for a funder or
government or some corporate
to do something when they do
not search within themselves
to find what they are capable
of doing.
If you look at the political
struggle, we didn’t have the
technology that we use today.
I remember in my days in the
United Democratic Front, we
would form street committees.
Our townships were the safest
places, you never heard of
house break-ins. There were
street committees, we were
so organised, but maybe it’s
because our enemy was easily
identifiable. Today, this enemy
lives in the bloodstream of a
person. But I’m sure that there
is a solution. It’s in people’s
hands. We don’t have the
solution; it’s in people’s hands
to find that solution.
If only we could get extra
funding so we could go to
many other areas across the
country and say, “Stop looking
at someone else, look within,
say what is it that I’m capable
of doing to ensure that I
prevent the spread of HIV, but
also to ensure that I protect
YOUTH IN DIALOGUE 13