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——
Youth With
a Vision is a South African non-profit organization,
formed of motivated teens who are dedicated
to creating a brighter future for their poverty
stricken rural town called Dennilton, 2 hours from
Johannesburg. These kids are determined to stop
the spread of AIDS to their peers.
Through the efforts and talents of founder, Cynthia
Nkosi, YWAV use theater and
music to teach AIDS awareness and other issues to
their peers and neighbors.
——
NextAid is building a multi-purpose center for Youth
With A Vision and for children who've been orphaned
by AIDS. The center
will serve as a beacon of hope in the heart of an
area seriously infected by poverty and AIDS .
Read more
about the multi-purpose center.
Kids at Dennilton, November
2004
——
CYNTHIA NKOSI
Founder and Director of Youth With a Vision
 The Zulu name ‘Pnumzile’ means ‘comfort’.
My parents gave me this name because they lost many
of their babies before me. There are only three
of us left, whereas we were supposed to be seventeen.
I’m originally the sixteenth child and my
brother… the seventeenth. Separated from my
mom three days after I was born, I was taken to
live with my grand-mother in the East-rand. I returned
to live with my mother when I was five or six. I
believe that was one major cause for not bonding
with my mother. Living back at my mother’s
house I felt unloved; things were terrible for me
there and I can’t mention all of the abuse
I was exposed to.
Growing
up, friends weren’t allowed to visit me, and
I couldn’t go visit them, because, “a
girl has to do her house chores from the rising
of the sun till the going down of the same.”
My passion, love and care for people emerged while
living at my mom’s house. I had to go through
much heartache and pain so that I can help others
in similar situations. That is why I’m educating
women and children about abuse today, because I’ve
been through it.
At school I excelled, and had a dream of becoming
a lawyer, but due to the handicap of being female
it couldn’t happen. Why should a girl go to
a university when she might get married? If she
does marry then she’ll have to stay at home
and be a full time wife and mother.
My dream or vision is to see the girls make it through
life against all odds; to see them believing in
themselves and knowing what she wants. Empowering
females to stand up against abuse, letting these
typical African men know that we don’t belong
in the kitchen anymore than they do; to let them
know that we are not their maid-servants…
gone are those days!
I feel so fortunate to use my personal experiences
to create Youth With A Vision, so others don’t
have to grow up with the same home life that I did.
The trials I went through as a child and a teenager
have now become a triumph; and I bless God for that!!
Contact Cynthia via email ywav[at]nextaid[dot]org
——
"HERE'S TO
YOU USA"
Read
letter from Cynthia written January 2005
——
THE PEOPLE OF THETHA
VILLAGE
The following is an example of stories YWAV teens
write and then dramatize in their communities.
Every society has some
things we are shy to discuss.
Five hundred families live peacefully in Thetha
village.
They grow their own food in their fields. They happily
welcome all travelers visiting their homes. They
respect themselves, each other, and their government.
They dress neatly and clean their homes daily. The
elders always say that the people of Thetha are
kind, generous, clever, and happy people.
The elders and all the people agree, there is one
thing the people can never discuss. That thing is
FIRE! Parents teach their children that is scary
and dangerous. The children learn early NEVER to
say the word FIRE! The whole village will gossip
about the one who says the word FIRE. When people
need to use FIRE for cookings, they close their
doors and quietly make fire inside their homes.
No one wants to offend their neighbors, so no one
says the word FIRE. When women hear the word FIRE,
they hide their faces. When men hear the word FIRE
they give angry looks. It is especially terrible
to say FIRE to someone outside your peer grou. So
the young NEVER say FIRE to the old and women, NEVER
say FIRE to the men. The old NEVER say FIRE to the
young, and men NEVER say FIRE to women. Girls and
boys NEVER say FIRE to each other.
One day on the eastern edge of Thetha, a young
man named Jabu went into the forest to get some
berries. The sun went down, but he never returned.
No one knew what happened to him. Soon, more and
more people who went into the forest never returned.
Their families cried and cried. Some villagers started
to see smoke coming out of the forest. They smelled
burning trees. They became so afraid. They started
to think it may be…FIRE! After two weeks,
many people saw that there was a big FIRE in the
forest and most people who enter will dies.
The villagers did not know what to do. They were
so afraid that more people will go into the forest
and dies in the FIRE! But they were also afraid
of what other people w and most people who enter
will dies.
The villagers did not know what to do. They were
so afraid that more people will go into the forest
and dies in the FIRE! But they were also afraid
of what other people will say or do if they speak
about FIRE! Some children ran into the forest to
see what was happening and never returned. Almost
everyone in Thetha Village saw that they must do
something. They were so afraid and sad. But they
were still too shy and afraid to say FIRE!
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