Leadership In Action- Week 3

This week the organization coordinated a clean up campaign with a local organization called Save a Fishie. Community members were invited to come out in their numbers to clean up their area of residence. In one day we managed to collect over 1700 kilograms of waste which was recycled or safely disposed. It was also important to establish a culture of cleaning up after ourselves as a community, which is important for sustainable change.

Toyota also visited the informal settlement and donated a second round of school shoes to the children in addition to the Soweto Bikers. In addition to the shoes, they also donated socks, sanitizers, toys, and soaps. Hygiene is very difficult to maintain in Ezimbuzini due to lack of access to clean running water, so the waterless sanitizers will definitely come in handy.

I have been facilitating afternoon activities with the little toddlers (ages 0-6) hanging from maths, English language, story time, arts and crafts, and culture and heritage. I enjoy working with the little ones which largely contrasts the admin side of a non-profit such as drafting proposals, monitoring donations, and distributions, tracking beneficiaries, and applying for grants. It is easy to get trapped in the bureaucracy of the administrative side of Human Rights, but interacting with different communities firsthand serves as a reminder and a moral compass for the field.