IMIZAMO YETHU
The Township of Imizamo Yethu is situated in the picturesque seaside Suburb of Hout Bay in Cape Town. Hout Bay is like a microcosm of South Africa, with a wealthy, mainly White Community, living alongside the Black Community in Imizamo Yethu and another Coloured Community in the Township of Hangklip near the Harbour. Imizamo Yethu has a Population of roughly 60 000 Residents, who are mainly Xhosa speaking. The Informal Settlement was established in the early 1990s when 450 families who had been squatting in shacks around Hout Bay were moved to this new Area on the side of a Mountain overlooking the Harbour, between the prestigious Estates of; Penzance and Tierboskloof.
Imizamo Yethu, meaning 'collective Efforts’, is a Site and Service Scheme, situated on 18 Hectares of Land, made available by the former Western Cape.
The majority of the Community are Black Xhosa speakers from the Eastern Cape. There are also a number of Coloured people who hail from the traditional Squatter Communities. There are reputed to be a number of Informal Settlement Dwellers from other parts of Africa such as Angola, Zimbabwe and Malawi.
There now is a Secondary School, Silikamva in the Settlement, whilst the Silikamva High School is in Penzance Estate.
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The dozens of children and teenagers that show up everyday after school to Sakhisizwe YDP are some of the most at risk youth, not only in South Africa, but the world. Gangsterism, substance abuse, food insecurity, crime, teen pregnancy, and HIV are just a few of the challenges many of them face on a daily basis. Despite so many insurmountable odds, they continue to fight for a better future for themselves. Sakhisizwe YDP gives these students not only a community, filled with mentors who help them with their education, and provide structure and discipline they may lack at home, but an appealing, constructive, fun alternative to staying out on the streets.
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IMIZAMO YETHU
Imizamo Yethu bedeutet in der Xhosa Sprache :
wir kämpfen für uns selbst, was soviel heißt wie: wir sind für uns selbst verantwortlich
Die Gemeinde liegt nicht weit entfernt von Kapstadt in der Nähe zu Haut Bay und ist eine der vielen formlosen
„neighbourhoods“ die man in Südafrika auch Township nennt.
Die meisten, aber nicht alle Bewohner leben ohne angemessene Wohnung, ausreichende Sanitäts - beziehungsweise Abwasserversorgung.
Es ist kaum möglich die exakte Zahl der Bewohner herauszufinden, sie liegt wohl zwischen 33.000-60.000 Menschen.
Diese Ansiedlungen sind entstanden durch die britischen und holländische Apartheidsregierung, welche die Afrikaner zwang ihre angestammten fruchtbaren Gegenden zu verlassen.
Obwohl sich Südafrika seit Nelson Mandelas Wahl zum Präsidenten 1994 nach vorne entwickelt hatte, verhindern Korruption, schlechtes Arbeitsangebot, minimale Wirtschaftliche Entwicklung, Mangelwirtschaft, Rassismus und Armut viele Menschen daran, in einem normalen Arbeitsleben anzukommen.
Das Dutzend Kinder und Teenager, die unser Afterskool Care täglich aufsuchen sind ein paar der am stärksten gefährdeten Jugendlichen, die gibt es nicht nur in Südafrika,
sondern überall…