Tuesday, June 17, 2008

The art of celebrating youth day



“Today it is not yesterday and tomorrow will never be like today, why youth of today are always told about their behavior, the type of the world and the type of situation that we found our self within today will never be like the one youth of 1976 found themselves in” said one of the Sekgosese youth who was attending a youth celebrations at the Sekgosese community hall.

Ululations were heard all around the country as people were celebrating the commemoration of Soweto Uprising in 1976 were young people in South Africa stood up and fought for their rights. When fighting many of them died after being shot by police. Young people who were most were students were fighting for Afrikaans after being used as a medium of constructions at schools. The 16 June was then proclaimed as a public holiday by the recent government in honor of the youth who died when fighting for their rights.

Different youth from all provinces in the country celebrated this day through different activities. In Sekgosese Limpopo out site Polokwane, youth of Temosho Educational Development organized a huge event whereby young people from the region gathered to celebrate. Drama, poetry, dance, and different speeches were the orders of the day.

Inspector of Police in Sekgosese region Mr. Mashao said as police they are concerned about the escalating number of young people who are being arrested in daily basis. “These days we are aware that young people do no longer fight for their rights and needs, but they fight hard to engage themselves in criminal activities like rape and house robbery” he said.

Peer Educators from University of Limpopo in Turf loop campus were also there to give a health education to the youth; they were encouraging young people to refrain to sexual intercourse “in the name of preaching abstinence”. They also had a chance to demonstrate the proper use of condoms in order for people to avoid being effected with HIV.

“The youth of 1976 fought for their rights and need and what are we doing as youth of today when enjoying the fruits of their fight, are we going to sit down even if young people are dying because of HIV/AIDS?, are we going to ignore the escalating number of young people who are passionate in killing and raping our own society, let us wakeup and fight a fight which do not need guns, but our own minds and voices” said the administrator of the Temosho Educational Development.

The event was attended by more than 200 young people including the olds. Temosho Educational Development was formed in order to eliminate illiteracy at Sekgosese areas. It mission is to help young people on their way to a brighter future by giving advises and all information they might need. It is based at University of Limpopo and according to its members; it is planning to grow abroad so that it can reach all young people across the Limpopo province.

No comments: