Youth Day: Be the change

Father's Day, Mother's Day, Youth Day — same concept right? Well, not exactly. While the first two celebrate generally the contributions of fathers and mothers, Youth Day commemorates a specific historic event — the 1976 Soweto Student Uprising.

In 1976, the Department of Education fuelled an already volatile situation by decreeing that the language of instruction in all schools had to be Afrikaans. Between 15 000 and 20 000 school students in Soweto embarked on a peaceful protest march on 16 June.

The South African police force, which was caught unawares, struggled to end the protest. They blockaded roads and ordered the students to return to their homes. When the students refused, they released dogs and teargas into the crowd. When this proved ineffective, they began firing into the crowd killing students randomly.

Their reaction did not quell the protest, instead it fuelled the students' anger, prompting them to turn violent — burning anything that represented the apartheid regime and throwing stones at the police. The anger spread throughout the country resulting in the largest outbreak of violence South Africa had experienced.

The official death toll from that day was 23, however, some estimate that as many as 600 students might have been killed. Among these students was 12-year-old Hector Pieterson. Samuel Nzima's photograph of Mbuyisa Makhubu carrying the bleeding body of Hector, alerted the world to the atrocities of the state violence and has subsequently become the iconic image of the Soweto Student Uprising.

A vision for change

A formidable force, the youth of 1976 had a common enemy and a vision for change. Thirty-two years later, South African youth are schooled in all official 11 languages and the enemy which once mercilessly suppressed the majority of South Africa's population exists only in memories and on the pages of history books. And yet, it was this common enemy which drove the youth, fuelled by anger, to change the society in which they lived.

But what about today's youth? What common enemy can they unite against? At what point will the youth of the new South Africa decide that they have had enough? At what point will they decide to take the fate of society into their own hands?

For there are many enemies — none so obvious as the apartheid regime — but insidious destructive forces nevertheless. Crime, gender violence, child abuse, HIV/Aids, the destruction of the environment, corruption and xenophobia plague South African society as much as undemocratic governance did during the apartheid regime. As long as our society is held hostage by any of these conditions, South Africa can never really regard itself as liberated.

Excusing apathy

But, for the most part, we view these conditions as something over which we have little control. It's the government's responsibility to stop crime. Gender violence and child abuse are bad, but how can they be stopped? HIV/Aids is a terrible scourge, but how can we fight it? The environment is doomed anyway, so what difference does my small contribution make?

It is easy to excuse apathy. It is easy to pretend that racial prejudice is the biggest problem South Africans will ever face. But it is also wrong. There are many forms of protest, and it is time South Africa's youth once again stood up to injustice. For while mass protests may do very little to stop crime, heal the abused or save the environment, the collective actions of individuals could change the world.

The answer is simple. Volunteer. If the drive, energy and passion of youth could be channelled into a worthy cause, South Africa would begin to heal itself from the inside out. Not only because the downtrodden would be supported, but also because an ethos of service would lead to culture of respect. And a lack of respect underlies all of the evils which currently plague our society.

It would have been useful if compulsory military service had been replaced with a year of compulsory community service. Imagine if, for 13 years, thousands of youth had been serving their communities and developing themselves. We would, no doubt, have a cleaner, safer and more compassionate society.

Unfortunately, it is called volunteer work for a reason, and if our society is ever to undergo a moral revolution, its citizens (both young and old) need to take the initiative themselves. Luckily, the structures to facilitate this are already in place and, if you are willing to do so, it is easy to make a difference.

In the words of Anne Frank: "How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world."

South African Student Volunteers (www.sasvo.up.ac.za)

This is an international volunteer exchange programme, in which volunteers spend three months volunteering overseas and then return with their hosts to volunteer for three months in South Africa. Currently the organisation is involved in a vegetable garden project and an HIV/Aids awareness project

Volunteer Centre (www.volcent.co.za)

The Volunteer Centre recruits volunteers and matches their skills with one of 150 organisations around the country. The centre also makes volunteering more accessible by training and orientating volunteers before placing them. The centre suggests that if you are specifically looking for an organisation in your area, you should:

Phone the Department of Social Development and they may be able to provide you with a list of welfare organisations in your area.

Volunteer Child Network (www.volunteerchildnetwork.org.za)

The Volunteer Child Network is a user-friendly database which helps volunteers to find organisations dealing with the prevention of child abuse and the minimisation of the negative impact of child abuse on victims. It matches the particular skills or preferences of the volunteer with the appropriate organisation.

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