Enke is making its' mark on the youth of today. Propaganda over, it was a great week, and more than anything it was eye-opening. While the week consisted of modules to do with leadership, great speakers and involving discussion on the Millennium Development Goals, the real strength of the forum was at a platform for positive discussion. ENKE functioned as a facilitator whereby the youth (leaders/exemplory peers/cool people/Zigi) could get together and really talk and influence the future.
Being out here (TIA) personalises the statistics, it isn't countless faceless orphans, lives torn apart by HIV, poverty and drugs, it is millions of real people, with real stories and real visions. At ENKE we were divided into small groups (known in Zulu as 'clusters'). Within the framework of ENKE we made community action projects (knows in Zulu as 'Caps'). Bonisewa (a girl in my cluster) aimed to stop the abuse and rape of children in her school. Zanele (another girl) wanted to set up a counceling in her school for girls like herself who had been raped. Doctor (a boy in the cluster) wanted to make an orphanage in his community, as he had been housed in one when he was younger, and Norika (another girl) wanted to combat the surpassing unemployement, pverty and crime rife in her neighboroughood.
We can do more, and we will do more.
It was amazing.
Ely
