HOW I SPENT YOUTH DAY

I'll start with the pretentious side of me that's dying to acknowledge the grubbyness of my outfit.  I was actually doing some good so it cancels out the need to look good.  Ok, now that that's out of the way let's get to the more interesting and certainly more important aspect of this post. 

On Saturday June 16 2012, I joined the Umuzi Photo Club, a really great organization that promotes youth activism through media.  It's a 3 year old organization founded by an American (although his passport could state that he is Iranian) named David Dini.  I only recently discovered it but they have done some pretty dope things in the name of ameliorating the fate of local youths.  Please visit their Facebook page to find out more about the Umuzi Photo Club, you'll like it.   

For the first time ever, I actually did something relevant on Youth Day.  I joined the Umuzi team and about 30 high school students from Bonato High School in Hillbrow and we posted these posters on every piece of empty wall space we could find in Hillbrow.  

If you live in South Africa, you will notice that this is a play on those ubiquitous A5 size posters that litter the walls and poles of any major city.  You know, the ones that promise that Prophet Mashimbe from Malawi or the like can do any of the following in 30 minutes: bring back a lost loved one, get that job you've always wanted, enlarge your penis, make sure you get rich quickly, punish your enemies etcetera etcetera.  The Umuzi posters are also a non-threatening and really creative response to the backstreet abortion posters that are all too familiar.  

The people of Hillbrow responded well to these, especially the safe sex posters and I just hope that the fun we had putting these up will result in positive change for the people that come across them.  I felt really good doing something positive and spending time with young people that we trend analysts spend way too much time talking about and not really engaging with.  I took some pictures at the event but the ones that Chris Saunders, David Dini and Andrew Levy took are muuuuuuch better.  I need to be less shy about using my camera.  Here are a few of them, for more please visit the Umuzi Facebook Page.