by Justin Foxton | Oct 31, 2014 | Citizen Participation, Orphans & Vulnerable Children, Women & Gender Issues
One of my hardest lessons in recent years has been what 19th Century Saint Therese of Lisieux called “The Little Way”. She was a simple Catholic nun who came to a profound understanding of the fact that change – redemption if you like – occurs only as we embrace The Little Way and embark on a life of small, intentional acts of love and compassion and repeat them often.
If like me you wish to see and even be a part of big and immediate personal and societal change then this is a very bitter pill to swallow – particularly in a country with so many issues.
Take education as an example. Captured in a recent front page article entitled “Matric drop-out rate ‘scary’”, the state of education in South Africa is a genuine concern for most of us but seemingly too vast to do anything about.
But the question we must ask is, what does such a vast issue look like in the context of the Little Way?
Enter the humble sanitary pad.
More than 60% of girls in our country stay away from school for up to a week during their period simply because they cannot afford sanitary products. Over the course of a year these young ladies could feasibly miss between 70 and 80 days of school. This contributes to the vast numbers of school kids who enroll in grade 2 but who drop out before Matric.
Enter Sue Barnes – founder of non-profit organisation Project Dignity which distributes Subz Pads and Pants. These are fully washable, reusable sanitary pad-cum-pantie sets designed specifically for less privileged girls. A pack containing 2 100% cotton panties and 6 ultra-absorbent, multi-layered washable pads costs just R130 and will last for 3 years.
This is a classic example of the Little Way becoming the big way. Just R130 can change a young girl’s life and provide her with the products she needs to keep attending school.
As a result of recent events that led to the writing of this post (the original version appeared in The Mercury) The Peace Agency will be partnering with Project Dignity to help provide more girls with washable sanitary pads. We will begin by supporting an existing initiative working into needy schools around Richards Bay and we will go from there.
If you would like to sponsor a Project Destiny girl at R130 for a 3 year supply of washable, reusable sanitary pads please contact me on justin@peaceagency.org.za
Let us do this together so that the Little Way may one day become the big way.
This column is dedicated to the memory of 17 year old Anene Booysens: gang raped, mutilated and murdered.
by Justin Foxton | Sep 27, 2014 | Leadership
As the winner rose to her feet and made her way through the crowd to the stage, a thousand plus people rose as one to their feet and roared their unfettered approval. The night belonged to her, and her fans – each and every one of us in that room – were not going to let her victory pass quickly or quietly.
As she made her way through the tables and up onto the inordinately long runway leading to the stage, the adulation of the crowd got louder and louder; “This is what being a rock star is all about,” I thought as waves of emotion swept the auditorium leaving many – the night’s very glamorous hostess included – wiping back the tears.
But this was not a music awards evening and this woman taking away the nights most prestigious award is not a rock star. She’s an advocate; very gracious, very dignified – but an advocate nonetheless. Now I ask you – what kind of advocate receives an ovation fit for a mega-star? What kind of advocate stirs the emotions of South Africans to such an extent?
Thuli Madonsela – accustomed to being in a very different kind of spotlight – stepped tentatively towards the microphone. You could tell that she hadn’t countenanced being named the overall winner of the South African of the Year awards: “South Africa never ceases to amaze me,” she quipped with characteristic humility.
24 hours before our Public Protector was named the South African of the Year, a dinner was held for all nominees of the competition across the various categories. It was a glitzy red carpet affair at the Inanda Club in Johannesburg. As the guest of honour made his way into the beautifully decorated ballroom a booming voice-over instructed all guests to rise to their feet. We did as we were told. A smattering of applause could be heard from a largely disinterested audience of several hundred of us. What guest of honour receives such a lukewarm welcome?
As President Jacob Zuma stepped confidently towards the microphone the audience continued to enjoy their starters. He spent most of his 15 or so minutes on stage eulogizing about the main sponsor of the South African of the Year Awards – 24 hour news channel ANN 7 referred to by Tokyo Sexwale as “Gupta TV”.
Two back-to-back gala events; arguably South Africa’s two most powerful citizens. One clear winner: hope.
When you meet Thuli Madonsela (I have long wanted to say that) you are immediately filled with a sense of hope; hope for the present and hope for the future of South Africa. This is because she exudes those human qualities so lacking in many of our leaders; humility, integrity, wisdom, vulnerability and trustworthiness.
But the crowd – from the great and the good of South African society on the one hand to Cathy and I on the other – the crowd added to the sense of hope. For in stark contrast to our reaction to the guest of honour the previous evening, we were all on our feet whooping and cheering – not for our Public Protector per se – but for humility, integrity, wisdom, vulnerability and trustworthiness. These values – embodied in Thuli Madonsela – were the real object of our praise and adulation. The wildly contrasting reactions to the two night’s honoured guests could – in my humble view – be seen as a bellwether for the future of South Africa.
Am I saying that Madonsela should be President? No. She would be wasted in that role. What I am saying is that the values she displays will likely be in some evidence in our next President. I know that because as a people we are celebrating – and celebrating wildly – those who model such values. Our reception of those who don’t is cool at best. It is a matter of time before we insist on such values being in evidence in our elected President.
Now the Eeyores amongst us will disagree – but hold your horses. The South African of the Year awards was made possible by our incumbent President’s besties the Gupta’s. Given her current spat with JZ over Nkandla you would have thought that Thuli Madonsela would be the very last person to win the Gupta’s talent contest wouldn’t you?
But here’s the thing – she won by public vote; the public insisted that humility, integrity, wisdom, vulnerability and trustworthiness trump political power and influence. The public – ironically made aware of the competition and how to vote largely via Gupta TV and Gupta News aka The New Age – are those who will determine who runs this country going forward.
It should be unnervingly evident to the ANC that it must act quickly and decisively to give humility, integrity, wisdom, vulnerability and trustworthiness the No. 1 position in South Africa because if they don’t – someone else will. Either way, South Africa is the winner.
Hope Springs Eternal.
This column is dedicated to the memory of 17 year old Anene Booysen: gang raped, mutilated and murdered
by Justin Foxton | Apr 14, 2014 | Citizen Participation, Leadership
“A leader is a dealer in hope.” Napoleon Bonaparte.
It is nearly 20 years since the dawn of democracy in South Africa and the most pressing question that I believe needs asking is not whether or not we have a good story to tell – we do. The more urgent question is do we have hope for the next 20 years?
You see in 1994 – the baked bean and kerosene lamp brigade aside – we were infused with almost supernatural levels of hope; we were buoyed up on a wave of international goodwill and our national pride was at fever pitch. We had the world’s most revered statesman at the helm and the world’s most beloved cleric making petition in the heavenlys on our behalf. We embodied hope.
Now hope is a very powerful thing. With hope anything is possible. Without it, nothing is possible. It can be argued that 1994 – and the ensuing 20 years – happened because we had hope that it would.
Psychologist Charles Snyder was one of the first developers of positive psychology and created his “hope theory” while on sabbatical from the University of Kansas. He observed people and interacted with them and through these observations came up with his own definition of hope: “Hope” he said; “is the sum of the mental willpower and waypower that you have for your goals.” In layman’s terms, hope is the fuel that fires the engine of change; it is the oomph that converts invisible dreams into seen realities.
And in Mandela we had one of the greatest “dealers in hope” of all history. He outlined the vision, gave us a road-map and then supercharged us with hope that it was infinitely doable. There was no chance of failure because the sum of our collective hope was driving us towards the vision that had been created for us; a united nation.
Over the next 20 years the story unfolded and it was indeed a good story; institutionalised racism was abolished along with its degrading and humiliating laws and practices; the disenfranchised majority had their right to vote restored to them; the poorest of the poor received financial aid from government; murder rates began to come down; millions were given access to houses, water and electricity; we staged arguably the finest football World Cup in history and praise be to the Almighty we won the Rugby World Cup – twice!
But as we did all this the oddest thing was happening; hope was waning. Cinderella- like it seemed that the magic was fading, midnight was fast approaching and soon we would be left with nothing but the memories of an all-too-short flirtation with a prince called democracy.
What caused this gradual loss of hope? Was it simply natural attrition; the fact that we simply couldn’t go on operating at those heady levels of post 1994 hope? Or was there something more to it?
I believe we could still be riding the crest of that wave were it not for two factors:
Back to the Cinderella story, the magic was always going to run out – it was only ever a matter of time. It was up to Cinderella to make her impression on the prince so that the magic was no longer an external force but an internal reality. She did that. We haven’t yet. The Madiba Magic as we called it – aka hope – has gone and we are left staring out into the midnight sky, waiting for another saviour to return with more magic. The thing we have done least well over the past 20 years is not economic, political or social. It is quite simply that we – you and I – have failed to keep hope alive. We have failed to become leaders in our own circles; leaders who deal in hope. Instead we have immersed ourselves in cynicism, self-pity, negativity and criticism, effectively killing the magic.
The second factor that has killed the magic is that our political leaders have not dealt in hope either. They have dealt in lies, deceit, cover-ups, drugs, spin – you name it – everything but hope. And what robs citizens of a democracy of hope more than anything else is when political leaders consistently failing to pay back what they have stolen, apologise for the wrongs they have committed and resign from office when they are found guilty. Nothing destroys faith in democracy quicker and more irrevocably than a lack of accountability.
Hope will be restored when two things happen: when we decide to put leaders who are dealers in hope into positions of power and when each of us makes an intentional choice to become a dealer in hope.
Then the magic will return.
This column is dedicated to the memory of 17 year old Anene Booysen: gang raped, mutilated and murdered.
by Justin Foxton | Apr 10, 2014 | Citizen Participation
This piece first appeared in The Mercury on 3 March 2014
On the surface of it, crime has no benefit to communities whatsoever. When areas go through what is commonly referred to as a crime spate all that seems to result is fear and trauma; there is surely nothing good about that.
Well yes and no. If communities respond smartly to crime – harness the fear if you like – very tangible benefits can result making the area a better place to live. Let me explain.
We have all witnessed scenes either first hand or in movies when – after a run of attacks on farms or homes in a particular area – residents get together in a local hall, vent their anger and discuss possible solutions.
United by a common bond of fear they join hands – perhaps for the first time – to safeguard their families and homes. Community is often the result of crime.
And I would go as far as to say that community is not only a potential upside of crime but that effective community is the opposite of crime; that where community works well crime rates will drop. That first meeting in a local hall is powerful simply because it is a first step towards community.
Of course the clever clogs out there will reason that if crime leads to community then South Africa should have the best communities this side of the Ho Chi Minh trail and that – by extension – we should have no crime at all. This is of course not the case because of what happens next:
When we get together in that hall for the first time two things happen: we kick off by recounting our crime horror stories. Then the soon-to-be-elected chairman of the soon-to-be-constituted board of trustees says we need to “fight back”/”wage war against the criminals” or words to that effect. This in itself suggests a battle in which there will be a winner – hopefully us – and a loser – hopefully the bad guys. It implies that the war will be quick, it will be easy – shock and awe style – and we will be free of crime within a matter of months. Everyone leaves feeling positive.
Because we think a ‘battle’ will win the day, we kick off our plans by employing soldiers. Our modern day soldiers are R4000 per month employees of security companies. Now I know from talking to dozens of these guys that they could not get work doing anything else and turned to security as an absolute last resort. Very few if any grew up with a dream to sit in a wooden hut all night long and possibly take a bullet for a rich family that does not even bother to find out their name.
So what happens is that the community gets excited about being safe and secure again and they pay money each month to fund a bunch of guards on the street; maybe a camera or two. This is usually the end of the good ideas because, well, what else is there other than security companies?
Then someone gets broken into. Why? Because the R4000 per month solider did not turn up for work or he was out patrolling at point B when a house near point A was hit. Then the community loses faith in the initiative and stops funding it and this is usually where the thing, sadly, derails.
Now guarding and cameras are part of the solution but they alone won’t solve an area’s crime problem. If all we do when crime brings us together is outsource our security to a security company then we have missed the big opportunity. A neighborhood’s employment of security guards and cameras is just a tangible, visible means by which to get everyone’s buy-in. Then the work of the community needs to begin.
And what does this work entail? Well if the opposite of crime is community, then security initiatives need to analyze what well-functioning, healthy communities look like and mirror that. Amongst other things, healthy, crime-free neighborhoods have:
- Neighbors who know each other and look out for one another
- Regular meetings to discuss community issues
- Good communication via a variety of digital media platforms
- Residents who work together and with local authorities to fix what is broken (lights, roads, drains, walls, signs)
- Residents who keep their area clean and tidy
- Residents who assist security companies and the police by being the eyes and ears on the street
- Residents who support their local police and report crime
- Residents who obey the law
If your area has a neighborhood security initiative, get involved and give of both your time and money. If not – consider starting one. They are integral to the creation of a safe, crime-free South Africa.
Justin Foxton is founder of The Peace Agency.
This column is dedicated to the memory of 17 year old Anene Booysens: gang raped, mutilated and murdered.
by Justin Foxton | Apr 1, 2014 | Citizen Participation, Crime & Corruption
This blog first appeared in The Mercury on Monday 31st March 2014
Six years ago almost to the day, I was out on a dusty farm road in my other favorite province – Mpumalanga – training for the Comrades Marathon. As is my custom, I acknowledged people as I ran passed them; looking them in the eyes, smiling and saying hello. These were poor folk; farm laborers shuffling home from work; women carrying great buckets of water; old men with heavy loads of firewood on their shoulders. They all looked exhausted; worn down by the grind of life.
And from amongst these brief interactions emerged one that would completely change my life and the way I view how we ‘do country’ here in South Africa.
I looked into the eyes of an old black man who was trudging home carrying wood and greeted him. He stopped dead in front of me, his eyes darting this way and that; confused; quizzical. I too stopped not knowing what might come next. He looked at me for a few seconds and then his tired, crevassed old face softened and broke out into the warmest smile I believe I have ever seen.
In that moment I had what some might call a Damascus Road experience. I realized that the violence and hatred that seeps out of the very pores of this nation does so because – for hundreds of years – we have simply not seen one another; we have not looked into one another’s eyes; we have not taken the time to greet one another; we have withheld respect and dignity; we have ignored one another; we have turned a blind eye to suffering and pain, poverty and injustice; we have called one another hateful names; we have laughed at each other’s expense; we have elevated ourselves above one another.
As I have spoken and written on this theory of mine, many have testified that – in practical terms alone – simple acts of respect and dignity have yielded profound results; one Midlands woman saved herself and her family from certain death at the hands of a gang of violent robbers simply by showing them kindness and respect; a Johannesburg woman spoke a man and his cohorts out of raping her.
These and many other examples have poured in from actual crime scenes. However what interests me more is this: what can we citizens do to create an environment of peace and tolerance; an environment in which rates of crime and violence drop organically? What can we do to alter the atmosphere of violence and discord that we currently live in?
Back to my Damascus Road experience, I believe it is easier than we make it: an atmosphere of discord is altered by sowing harmony; an atmosphere of violence is altered by sowing peace; an atmosphere of disorder is altered by sowing order; an atmosphere of lawlessness is altered by sowing lawfulness. It really is as simple as that.
Think of it in farming terms; for decades, even centuries we have sowed intolerance, hatred, division and inequality. Now we are reaping the fruits of that which include violence, crime and corruption.
And this is why my experience on that farm road gave me such hope; it reminded me that whilst the human heart takes years of abuse to become hardened and calloused – perhaps even violent – it can become tender again in a single moment of acknowledgement or through a simple act of respect.
Once I had experienced connectedness with that old man – a connectedness that transcended language, age and race – I wanted to experience it with others. I went out of my way to converse with people on the street; car guards; tellers; packers; laborers; students – anyone I could. I began to experience the power inherent in active reconciliation and I loved it. I loved it so much I began a campaign called Stop Crime Say Hello which encourages all of us to reach out across the gaping chasms that separate us.
And as people began to experience the power of connection a fascinating thing began to happen; they wanted to do more to help create a safe, healed and thriving nation. One woman summed it up beautifully when she blurted out; “Justin, I greet everyone I can but I want to do more – what else can I do?”
The influential African American author, theologian, educator and civil rights leader Howard Thurman provided a fascinating answer to this when he said: “Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive and go out and do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”
Justin Foxton is founder of The Peace Agency.
This column is dedicated to the memory of 17 year old Anene Booysen: gang raped, mutilated and murdered.
