Giving Voice to the Voiceless

Recent Blog Posts

How to make a living when there are no jobs

The majority of South Africans are either out of work or severely limited in their ability to generate a decent enough income to support themselves and their families. And while there are no easy answers to the crisis facing us, it is clear that being employed is not the only way to earn a living. The best solution is to create a reliable way to generate income for yourself. The suggestions on the following pages could spark an idea that can get you started.

Three children. One debilitating disease.

Nobilo was born in a remote village in the Eastern Cape, about 10 years ago. She was the first child of Nonto and Andile. Sometime during the child’s first year, Nonto undertook the expensive and long journey to the clinic in the big town. At the clinic, she was told that there is something wrong with her baby. They said the child had Cerebral Palsy and that there was nothing to be done about it.

Child Headed Households

My father passed away when Thabo was two. I was nine. I didn’t mind that he died, because we didn’t see him very much. But when I was older, I saw that it was because of him that we always had food and things, which we didn’t have after he died. I mean, we had food. But not so much meat. My mother planted mealies and morogo and we had the cow, so we had milk. My mother started working for the farmer with the big house. She worked in the fields. She would leave when it was still dark and come home when it was dark. And she became so thin. So thin. And weak. And then she couldn’t work any more. She got the sickness. So, I left school to take care of her and Bongani left school to take her place at the farm. Only Tshepo and Jabu are at school now. I know she is going to die. My mother. I will be the father then because I am the oldest. I am fourteen years.

The Frightening Link Between Animal Abuse and Human Violence

It is conventional wisdom that animal abuse precedes human violence. In reality, the two are often co-occurring and interwoven. Domestic abusers may harm or threaten animals to exert power over their human victims, to show what might happen to them, and to prevent victims from leaving or speaking about their abuse.

The Rubbish Bin Scavengers

One young man’s experience

“I am sitting here by the street, because I have no job. I told my mother that I will get a job, but eish, I have been here for so long and every night I go back home with no job. I think people don’t want to use me because I look too young. The older men, they get jobs.