by Justin Foxton | Dec 11, 2015 | Citizen Participation, Orphans & Vulnerable Children, Women & Gender Issues
Many of you will know that I am passionate about a number of topics not least of all sanitary pads. You will know this because for the past year I have been appealing to readers of this column to join me in providing packs of washable, reusable sanitary pads to impoverished girls in rural schools. This innovative and uniquely South African product – beautifully designed packs called Subz Pads and Panties – costs just R140 and will last a girl 3 years. For literally millions of girls across our country, such a product is nothing short of a miracle; it will prevent the indignity of using toilet paper, newspaper and in many cases used pads passed on by friends and sisters; it will prevent the spread of diseases; it will prevent girls from missing more than one-and-a-half years of school during their high school career because of their monthly period – a major determining factor in terms of girls matriculating.
Readers of this column have contributed a fantastic R100 000 to this life-changing initiative known to us as Project Dignity. I want to take this opportunity to thank you all for your incredible generosity. With these funds we have helped nearly 800 girls in a number of different rural schools.
It was on a recent activation at a school in one of the poorer communities we have visited that we all became aware of a very unusual reaction from the girls to the product. The girls usually whoop and high five one another when Sue Barnes of Subzs shows them the pads themselves. But in this community the greatest joy was reserved for when she pulled out the two pairs of panties that come in each girl’s pack.
We couldn’t understand this reaction until after the activation when we were talking to one of the teachers at the school. She explained to us that not only do the girls have limited access to sanitary pads – they have no panties either. The result of this lack is extremely damaging to the young female psyche; a stripping of self-worth and dignity; lowered levels of self-esteem; even self-loathing; a giving over of her body – an object of embarrassment, ridicule and disgust – to very youthful sexual relations, unprotected sex, sex for money and other forms of abuse. The knock-on consequences of all this? Apart from the detrimental effect on the girls themselves, Marie Stopes International tells us that there are approximately 260 000 abortions in South Africa per annum of which between 52-58% are illegal. 3500 babies are abandoned each year.
The 2011 census revealed that there are 7 million girls between the age of 10 and 19 in the lower Living Standards Measurement (LSM) brackets. We can safely say that a significant percentage of these girls will have limited access to both sanitary products and panties.
Now we can campaign, protest and generally jump up-and-down during these 16 Days of Activism for No Violence against Women and Children – and we should. But how can we have meaningful impact on our extraordinarily high levels of abuse if we allow the perpetration of such indignity and degradation on our girls on a daily basis? Abuse of girls and women must include not providing adequately for their monthly periods. Empowering women has to begin at the most fundamental level; honouring their femaleness – not as something base and dirty and embarrassing – but as something God-given and miraculous. Girls and women must be enabled to embody their femaleness with absolute pride and dignity. This is the most powerful anti-abuse message we can send.
I am acutely aware that many of us feel overwhelmed and helpless during the 16 Days of Activism. What can we do to help? Well, working together we have empowered 800 young girls this year alone. We did this ourselves; this generous community of readers.
We invite you to join us and sponsor a (nother) 3 year supply of pads and panties for one girl. For just R140 you will change her life forever.
The Peace Agency bank details are as follows:
FNB Durban North
Acc #: 6215 995 8217
Branch code: 22-04-26
Please reference your donation with “Project Dignity”
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, and our Mozambican brother Emmanuel Josias Sithole: beaten and stabbed to death.
by Justin Foxton | Nov 23, 2015 | Citizen Participation, Leadership
Malcolm Muggeridge famously said: “Every happening, great and small, is a parable whereby God speaks to us, and the art of life is to get the message.” What are some of the messages from our current water crisis?
Certainly we must urgently work together to save water, but why do we only save water when there is a crisis? We have become so technologically advanced that we are blinded to what we actually need to stay alive on earth. Does this water crisis not demand of us that we begin to view the world differently? Does it not demand that we begin to cherish that which we discard with such ease? Does it not teach us to educate our children about the value of our natural resources – in times of both lack and plenty?
The other lesson this drought must teach us is that however advanced we may have become, we are inextricably linked to the earth. We do not exist apart from it. We are indeed, one. We seem only to truly internalise this fact when – having pillaged our planet – we are faced with the realities of hunger or thirst.
By now you will have read many ideas of how you can save water and I hope that we are actioning them all. However, I want to suggest that we do something a little different as citizens; something that allows us to truly identify with this drought. You may remember a very impactful campaign run by World Vision called The 40 Hour Famine. Members of the public were invited to fast for 40 hours in order to experience what it felt like to go hungry. People would sponsor the participants and money was raised for victims of famine across Africa. It was incredibly successful.
I want to suggest that we undertake a similar campaign called A Day without Water. For 24 hours we shall pretend that we have no access to water (in taps, pools etc). We will have to make preparations to store enough water for drinking and cooking; we will go without baths and showers; we won’t swim. We will live as if water has run out and all that is left is that which we have stored. This will give us some sense of the life that so many people across our country are currently living.
Then, I invite you to get people to sponsor you for each hour that you go without water. As an NGO we have identified an ingenious solution to the drought in rural areas: PlayPumps – water pumps that are connected to children’s merry-go-rounds. As the kids play, water is pumped out of the ground for the local community. Help us to raise funds to get as many of these installed in needy areas as possible.
A Day without Water will run from 18:00 on Friday 4th December to 18:00 on Saturday 5th. Please spread the word. Get your companies, schools and places of worship involved; get social and other media on board. You can e-mail me on justin@peaceagency.org.za for bank details and if you have ideas and suggestions that can enhance the campaign.
Let’s make this a national, annual event. Then we will truly have got the message from the parable of our water crisis.
This column is dedicated to the memory of 17 year old Anene Booysens: gang raped, mutilated and murdered, and our Mozambican brother Emmanuel Josias Sithole: beaten and stabbed to death.
by Justin Foxton | Jul 7, 2015 | Orphans & Vulnerable Children
I have been reluctant to weigh in on the issue of the new immigration regulations pertaining to children but I can contain myself no longer.
Let me begin by recapping the intention behind the new regulations; to prevent child trafficking. Let me also – just for the sake of clarity – define what “child trafficking” is. Child trafficking is defined as: “the illegal movement of children, typically for the purposes of forced labour or sexual exploitation.”
Now it is important that we humanise this issue because the arguments against the new immigration regulations have been worryingly callous; “How many children are really trafficked into or out of South Africa each year?” “Most kids enter or exit illegally through our very porous borders as opposed to through legitimate channels where their travel documents will be checked.” I even heard one travel industry commentator quipping; “Is this not using a steam-roller to crack a nut?”
Researchers seem to agree that hundreds than in the thousands of children are trafficked into or out of South Africa each year. Now to put these meaningless numbers into a little context all I ask is that you close your eyes and imagine your son, daughter or grandchild – the one who is currently playing happily outside with her friends or watching some TV – imagine that child dirty and broken, parading the streets of a foreign country, turning tricks to fuel her insatiable drug habit and the bottomless pit of her “Daddy’s” lust for money. Would you not want to do everything in your power to prevent this from happening? Would you not stand in a queue at Home Affairs all day, every day for the rest of your life to ensure that that dreadful image never became a reality? Of course you would and stuff what anyone had to say about; “the negative impact on our tourism industry.” What callousness! Quite frankly if people are put off coming to our country because we love and care for our children then they should not be welcomed here in the first place.
And let’s be honest here, we are not asking for all that much. Here is an extract from the website www.sapeople.com: “All children under the age of 18 – both local and foreigners – are now required to travel with a valid passport and an unabridged (full) birth certificate stating both parents’ names. If the child is travelling alone or with only one parent, then the child must also carry an affidavit filled out by the missing parent/s.” This particular website then goes on to provide a Parental Consent Form that you can download and use.
So all that is needed apart from the normal passport is an unabridged birth certificate and – only if the child is travelling without both parents – an affidavit from the missing parent stating that the child has permission to travel. If you are travelling from outside South Africa all you require is an official document stating the name of both the child’s parents. According to the Board of Airline Representatives (BARSA) this will cost the tourism sector over R6.8bn in losses and could result in job cuts. It did not specify the timeframe for these massive losses or how the figure was calculated.
But even if these figures are valid which is highly questionable, should we be placing monetary values – however large – onto children lives? Essentially what we are indicating when we say that the travel industry will lose RXYZ billion is that children’s lives are not worth this amount. Again – close your eyes and imagine your child.
Now I know there is a bigger picture here regarding the impact on the economy and de facto on people’s lives as a result of travel industry related job losses etc. But in truth should we not be aiming to create jobs and boost tourism whilst doing everything in our power to prevent the incalculable losses associated with child trafficking? Should we not adopt a certain cosmetic brand’s strapline; “First Do No Harm” and ensure that our travel industry does not thrive at the expense of even one child?
To quote another well know brand’s strapline lets; “Just do it”. Let’s go to home affairs, stand in the queue, get the unabridged birth certificate, do an affidavit and stop bloody whining. If we imagine that our efforts are saving children’s lives rather than wasting our oh-so-precious time and money then we may even do it with a sense of pride that our country is doing all it can to safeguard our children.
This column is dedicated to the memory of 17 year old Anene Booysens: gang raped, mutilated and murdered, and our Mozambican brother Emmanuel Josias Sithole: beaten and stabbed to death.
by Justin Foxton | Jan 5, 2015 | Citizen Participation, Leadership
It is not to everyone that a new year delivers possibility. Amidst the revellers and the makers of hope-filled resolutions there are those to whom the prospect of beginning again – resetting if you like – the game of life, is a daunting prospect. And once the anaesthetic effect of the holidays has worn off they are left – as in the seminal movie “Groundhog Day” – beginning the whole thing all over again. “Once more, from the top” as they say in the theatre business.
Some may be facing the prospect of another year of physical illness or pain; others might be considering their age and failing strength. For many the start of 2015 might be overwhelming as they contemplate how they will manage life – an entire year – without a loved one. For some this darkness is financial; can I live another year barely making it to the end of each month or maxed out on debt? Others will wonder how they can continue in a job they hate. And many South Africans will be feeling despondence at the possibility of another year of corruption, immorality, and ineptitude on behalf of our leaders. For me personally I feel a sense of trepidation at the thought of another year doing battle with depression, the ongoing management of my physical well-being and resolving how to be a good father when at times I don’t have the energy.
You may be confronting some of these darkness’s – or any number of others – right now. You may be fortunate enough to be far from this point. But as sure as night follows day 2015 will bring darkness as well as light to all of us and for South Africans this is not simply metaphorical. How will we see our way through the dark times?
The great irony is that most of us have back-up plans for when physical darkness strikes. The recent round of load-shedding has seen a dramatic rise in the sale of generators, solar-powered geysers, emergency lights and candles. These are all installed, charged and/or placed in easily accessible places just waiting for that moment when Eskom will once again throw us into darkness. We do this for physical darkness but very seldom do we ready ourselves for the inevitable occurrence of metaphorical darkness in our lives.
This readying to which I am referring is not a neurotic thing; it is not about sitting around catastrophizing what might happen and manically trying to pre-empt and negate bad things – “stocking up with Bully Beef” as I call it. It is also not fatalistic.
That said I am not convinced of the proverbial “3 point plan to dealing with life’s challenges”. These are a dime a dozen which should tell us all we need to know about whether or not they actually work.
But for me there are a couple of things we can do to navigate or prepare for dark times.
We can consciously set ourselves free of the need to control everything, solve every problem, have every question answered and every pain relieved. This freedom – to live gently and peacefully within life’s myriad discomforts and uncertainties – helps to create personal resilience. It is about understanding that the darkness is not in opposition to the light; it operates in harmony with it to create the colour of life. This shift in perspective may help us to stop pushing against the darkness and begin harmonizing with it.
The other necessary perspective shift – and this is really an extension of the above point – is to embrace darkness. This is not something that I say lightly as pain – physical, mental, emotional or spiritual is seldom if ever welcome. But – as is the case with muscular development – without it we cannot grow.
Does this imply that we should put on fake smiles, hide the pain from the world and chant mantras like “no pain no gain”? By no means. It simply suggests that whilst we are experiencing darkness – whatever that might be – we can navigate our way through it by having the courage to ask; “what is this dark time teaching me?”
This mind-set can also apply to how we deal with our country’s problems and shift us away from blame and negativity towards optimism and solutions; perhaps load-shedding might encourage us to enjoy quality time with our family; perhaps corrupt leadership might inspire us to assume personal responsibility for conducting our lives in a moral fashion; perhaps the crises we face in terms of our nation’s youth might encourage us to become involved with kids as a tutor, mentor or friend.
As we begin the journey into 2015 perhaps the darkness’s we all at times experience can become a new light in our – and others – lives.
This column is dedicated to the memory of 17 year old Anene Booysens: gang raped, mutilated and murdered.
by Justin Foxton | Dec 24, 2014 | Leadership
It was a short sentence that had nothing much to do with the content of the story. It was just sort of, there. But it’s there-ness was like a cold beer on a hot summer’s day and as I read it a small drop of hope landed in my heart.
The article was about a severe traffic snarl up in the Durban CBD caused by a scheduled blackout. Chaos reigned; points-men were in short supply and cars backed up for blocks. Then came the sentence – a quote from an eThekwini Metro Police spokesperson: “We apologise. We knew in advance that the power would go off.”
We happened to be caught in that traffic and my wife and I had a couple of things to say about both Eskom and the Metro Police. But when I read those 12 words my attitude towards the Metro Police softened. This is the power of an apology.
On a personal level I experienced this power in a meeting with an estranged friend and colleague. About a year ago we had had an altercation which had left our relationship in tatters but we recently made contact and decided to meet. It was a little awkward at first but then we began to talk and catch up and we both said our apologies in our own ways. We have begun a journey towards a renewed friendship and the world is a better place for it.
All this got me thinking about Christmas. Now let me be clear upfront; the message of Christmas is there for all so please don’t think that what I am about to say is just a Christian thing; it is a humanity thing.
On one level Christmas is about giving; it is a time for us to spoil and be spoilt. On another level Christmas has become known as a time of peace; an opportunity to press pause on our crazy lives and take a breath in preparation for a new year.
But perhaps an aspect of Christmas that has been lost in all the noise is that – at its core – Christmas is about forgiveness. This is simply because the man whose birth this day marks – Jesus Christ – personified forgiveness in a way that no historical figure before or since has done. He spoke of a new way of relating to one another and indeed to God regardless of what we may or may not have done. This remains as powerful now as it was 2000 odd years ago simply because forgiveness brings healing.
This orientation towards forgiveness shows up in people in a number of ways most notably the humility to ask for forgiveness. Contrary to what we may think this humility is a sign of ultimate strength; a leader – indeed any human being – is never more powerful than when he or she is admitting their mistakes, asking for forgiveness and – very importantly – explaining how they will fix what they have done. Take the recent case of Pallo Jordan apologising and then resigning from parliament for lying about having a doctorate. As a result of these actions the issue simply died. Yes he will have lost a great deal as a result of his lies but he will have regained his soul through one simple act of humility and contrition.
The obvious implication of the sincere apology is that we are admitting that we were wrong and that we need to fix things. But the danger in not apologising is that we prevent this healing power of forgiveness from taking effect. Nkandla is a great example of this; without an admission of guilt, a sincere apology and a commitment to repay the money from the President the issue will never go away and the damage to him personally and politically will become incrementally worse with every day that passes. Having decided on his current path of inaction he must understand that the unapologetic leader will remain on the side of their power and that that power will dwindle and ultimately die.
On the flipside of this the power inherent in seeking forgiveness is immeasurable; parents asking children to forgive them and vice versa; mines or oil companies sincerely apologising for an environmental disaster; banks saying sorry when clients are defrauded of money. The sincere, personal apology; not one sent through the post, printed on a sign at the door or worse still, expressed by a spokesperson, has the power to change hearts and minds when accompanied by remedial actions.
Finally, I do not wish to imply that any of this is straightforward; human relationships are complex and often fraught with pain. But what I do know is this; if we can just take one small step towards apology and forgiveness this Christmas then we will be slightly closer to experiencing the peace, joy and goodwill that the season promises.
This column is dedicated to the memory of 17 year old Anene Booysens: gang raped, mutilated and murdered.
