A sense of community in South African Townships.

We left South Africa 4 years ago this month to move to Dubai, originally from the UK. We embraced life in South Africa to the full. Peter working, child 4 and 5 in education and myself getting involved in full time volunteering supporting vulnerable children living in poverty.

We had 4 wonderful years here and desperately miss our friends here and I visit as often as I can (twice a year) to continue with the hands on volunteering work, delivering Christmas gifts in townships in Pretoria. 

Last weekend I was in Soshanguve delivering gifts to 250 children, some of their housing conditions are heartbreaking as you'll see if you click this link.

This shack in the Alaskan Informal Settlement in a township called Mamelodi. This is home to a mother and father and 2 children. It is one room, where they eat, sleep and wash. There is no running water, there is no electricity, no toilet, no windows and the floor is mud.

So why is this shack painted like this?

4 years ago child 5 and I were working with an arts project to give the community a sense of belonging, to encourage members of the community to have pride in their homes, to join in, create some art, help and support their neighbours and create a sense of belonging and pride in their homes.

Child 5 and I camped in the community for the weekend, ate dinner, sang songs and was thoroughly looked after and entertained during our stay.

Can you imagine the whole landscape with shacks decorated? It would look stunning.

They don’t do Halloween in Dubai.

The word on the street is quite literally ‘get in your car and drive round to where we live’ as apparently our street gives out the best treats in the neighbourhood. Despite half the street being knocked down this week, this evening we’ve been inundated with trick or treaters of all ages and nationalities. Dressed as witches, vampires, superhero’s and unicorns.

Dubai is full of Halloween, from the stores selling over priced, imported Pumpkins (I carved a melon) to shops dedicated to Halloween costumes and displays in shops selling cards.

There are themed parties at some of the top hotels for children and adults alike and we’ve even been a long to a HowloWeen party especially for the 4 legged variety kids.

Whether you like Halloween or not, it really does happen here in Dubai. It’s friendly, safe and nearly everyone joins in, whether it’s understood or not.

It’s the same as Christmas, Easter, Diwali, Ramadan and Eid. And all the other festivals regardless of  religion or origin. Everyone is encouraged to participate and learn about the different cultures. Even the cat has joined in.

I personally love this the most about living in Dubai. In that respect it’s the best city in the world to live in, if you ask me.

Say NO to underage drinking

After a recent trip to a rural community near Kruger National Park, where there was no access to clean water, yet one passes many shabeens selling Castle Beer on the 2 km walk to fetch clean drinking water.

I approached South Africa Breweries and asked them what their social responsibility was in regards to supporting the community. They replied and invited me to take part in their 18+ drink aware campaign which is launched on August 1^st. Make a pledge and add a twibbon to your profile on face book and twitter to show your support. I also invite you to blog about your personal experiences with alcohol, effects on the family and how you’ve approached the discussions with your children and tweet and/or face book to show your support.

Over the next few blog posts I will be blogging about personal experiences of alcohol. I am a Mother to 4 boys aged 15-25, I also worked for 14 years as a Youth Worker in the UK dealing with teenagers and alcohol and I’m currently living in South Africa working in several townships where I see and hear about the effects of alcohol and the damage it causes the local communities. I was also a teenager, I drank underage and I enjoy alcohol now as an adult.

This series of posts isn’t an attempt to stop people from drinking it’s to encourage them to drink safely and to educate their children about the dangers of drinking under age.

I shall leave you with my experiences of my teenagers and alcohol and let me know if you think I handled this correctly or whether you would’ve done anything differently?

My kids and alcohol 

SA Breweies say:

No one under 18 should be drinking alcohol and it is up to us to stop our denial about the situation and do something about it.

· 1 in 2 teenagers in the average South African home is a user of alcohol.

· Yet the vast majority of parents think their teenagers don’t drink

· Around 15% of boys and 8% of girls said that they’d had their first drink before age 13

· People who begin drinking before the age of 15 are four times more likely to become alcohol dependent than those who have their first drink at age 20 or older

· Teens that use alcohol are three times more likely to be involved in violent crime

· 67% of teens who drink before the age of 15 will go on to use illegal drugs