YFL WOMEN’S DAY EVENT, Aug. 9th 2006
(Held to mark the 50th Anniversary of a famous Women’s March against the Apartheid Pass Laws in 1956, which was attended by over 20,000 women of all races from across South Africa. The day has been a Public holiday since Liberation in 1994)
Fashion Show
presented by one of the member schools
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Firstly, we arrived at Jabulani Tech. High School in Soweto where the event was hosted. We had Clint Ramothatha (a YFL member) as our Master of Ceremonies; he was a good MC, he had hyper energy and his jokes were very funny. The programme was nice because we had speeches and a fashion show, amongst others. Although I was so nervous when I did my speech, as a YFL representative, I did give myself a tap on the back because I did well. Sthembelo Radebe, a former YFL co-ordinator did some nice poetry, which was really good and got women shaking and moving with excitement.
We did this event because we wanted to show women that they are very special in big and in small ways. We wanted them to embrace their femininity and we are grateful for what they do for their families and to say thank you to those women who brought freedom for women in South Africa. Although they were not there, we dedicated the event to them.
 People from New Start (an organisation which offers VCT services) came and they were showing the right path to real life by offering testing and counselling, which was a great idea. It is very important for young people to test so that they can make better decisions for their lives whilst knowing their status. A total of 38 people got tested that day, which was a very reasonable number. So, hopefully, they made the right choice to go and get tested and move forward with their lives.
There was also a speech from former Miss Earth SA, Catherine Constantinides, who is also an environmental activist, and this was a killer speech; her words were so powerful. She really made me think that what I’m doing with my life is worth it and she is one of a kind, as well as being a role model to young people. She also helps people from disadvantaged communities and that was the highlight for me. She is really a proudly South African and a very proud Community Developer.
 Some of the people who came were young people we trained in the middle of this year from different parts of Johannesburg and it was really nice to see them together as YFL, not their separate schools and groups. We were one young people’s group and we enjoyed being together on that day.
YFL Team
Enegiser being done with the whole group at the event
Further information about Youth as Facilitative Leaders
(YFL) is available on our website www.ica-southafrica.org
Nontlantla Maeteletja, Reporting for YFL in Johannesburg
(Nontlantla is a youth facilitator, aged 18.
She has been part of the YFL programme since 2002)
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