We got together with the wonderful young ladies from Shake The World Thina Jita - Sales and marketing and Sisanda Madantswi - Project Manager to speak about what they do and why it is important for the youth to get involved in this social cause.
What is Shake the world?
S: It’s a global campaign
that raises awareness around the MDGs as well as women empowerment. It started in the Netherlands and spread to
South Africa and the awareness is raised by the use of beaded bracelets made by
the women we aim to empower.
What is MDG?
S: Millennium Development Goals. These are goals that were
established by the UN in the year 2000 to be reached by 2015. There are eight goals and these goals address social issues.
How does Shake the
world fall into the MDGs?
T: The 8 goals
are represented by the 8 colours of the beaded bracelets. They are as follows:
Red: Combating HIV and AIDS
Yellow: Eradicating Poverty
Light Green: Promoting
Dark Green: Promoting Environmental
Sustainability
Light Blue: Reducing Child Mortality
Dark Blue: Promoting Global Partnership For
Development
Orange: Promoting Gender Equality and Women
Empowerment
Pink: Promoting Maternal Health
Through purchasing the bracelets you
help achieve three objectives:
1.) Educate yourself and others
about the MDGs, which large numbers of people do not know about.
2.) You help reduce poverty, which
is one of the MDGs.
3.) You empower women.
4.) You contribute to job creation
and assist in addressing the issue of unemployment.
Although we are still aiming to educate
people on the rest of the goals, everyone should know that by buying the
bracelets you have played a role. Having the bracelets is an easier way to know
and learn about MDGs and help.
Do you feel that the
youth is desensitized from giving back and if so how does shake the world aim
to change the perceptions?
S: Yes, I for one
was a desensitized youth before I joined this campaign because I wasn't involved
in being part of any social development. STW is fun in the way that it tries to
raise awareness for instance we had a party called Party for a Purpose, where
we raised awareness on social development.
We are also doing documentaries, documentaries are very
formal and so by involving the youth we are bridging the gap and creating a
conversation between the young and old concerning these social issues. Those
are some of the ways that we hope to get the youth to change their perceptions.
Have you ever visited
the communities that shake the world currently serves?
S: Yes we did, in 2013 we went to the KZN and
visited one of the 21 groups of women. We started with Africa Ignite who are the rural development organisation that works
closely with the women and since we were doing STW, we decided to go visit them. Most of them are single and
unemployed now they have the opportunity to empower themselves through STW.
What has the entire
experience taught you about yourselves?
T: I learnt that
giving back is not just about giving people money, it is more sustainable to
help people to help themselves. Through STW
these women now have jobs and careers and through these skills the women can
pass them on to their children.
I learnt about the MDGs in University while studying
international relations and sociology and politics but it wasn't something that
I felt I was a part of. Through STW
I learnt more, I know the goals and stats and figures regarding poverty and so
on. We are learning and teaching people about the goals and other social issues, which affect all of us.
S: It has taught
me to be able to help people live dignified lives, we talk about human rights
but honestly you cannot enjoy your rights when you are not living a dignified
life, when you are unemployed or hungry then those things degrade how the human
species is supposed to live.
There are so many things that are embedded in the various
cultures that we come from in South Africa that can help us create a life for
ourselves, we don’t have to own shoe shops but we can make a living from the
things that our grandparents created. People are now using their skills and
their culture to make a living.
Lastly what do you
hope to achieve with this initiative
T: We aim to educate people about social issues and we aim
to get the youth involved in things like this. Trying to make our society a
better place. There’s no use if the rich, the adults and government are the
ones taking more initiative in these issues but if we all team up we can make a
bigger change.
S: We want to sell these beaded bracelets and make huge sales so that the money that we do make goes to these women. We also want everyone who comes into contact with these bracelets to know what they stand for. We want people to be aware of shake the world and to be a mover and shaker in their world.
Ambassadors that are
involved?
Phindile Dlhamini
Phindile is a
proud Sowetan who is a dynamic and vibrant entrepreneur who is Managing
Director of social business, Gracefully Consulting. She is passionate about
Africa and making a positive difference by part of the solution to South
Africa’s socio-economic challenges and adding value to the lives of youth and
children.
Rosie Motene
Actress, Producer, Presenter, Voice artist and talent agent.
Aside from her flair for the arts, Rosie is very involved in human rights
issues. Rosie is a Women and child rights activist and has been affiliated with
organisations such as POWA (People Opposing Women Abuse).
Zandile “ DJ Zeal” Dladla
Outspoken an opinionated young woman with a ZEAL for life ! Zandile
Dladla is a Metro FM presenter and house DJ. Zeal is passionate about human
rights, development and education. She uses her voice to MC, present and spread
the word around the Shake The World campaign as one of the ambassadors.
Enjoyed the interview? Great now head on to our facebook page daily to see how you can get rewarded by standing a chance to win amazing prizes from Shake The World. #ShakeDownForWhat
