“Good morning to the youth and to the youthful,” said St Andrew's College matric pupil, Martin Chandler. He was speaking to 1 700 of Makana's school children gathered at his school's Lower Field for a ceremony on Monday morning.
“Good morning to the youth and to the youthful,” said St Andrew's College matric pupil, Martin Chandler. He was speaking to 1 700 of Makana's school children gathered at his school's Lower Field for a ceremony on Monday morning.
“We owe a lot to the youth of 1976, and now as the born-free generation, it is time to take the future into our own hands.”
This special Youth Day celebration is organised every year by pupils of the Diocesan School for Girls (DSG) and St Andrew's College – an event for the youth, by the youth.
This year, due to Grahamstown's 200-year benchmark, the two schools widened their circle to include children from as many schools as possible. Around 10 pupils from all the primary schools in Makana were invited to join.
Makana Municipality was also involved in the plan and helped fund transport for the visiting schools and provide refreshments. “We wanted to broaden the impact of our Youth Day celebrations, spreading our community engagement and impacting more people,” said Tim Barnard, the St Andrew's College community engagement officer.
“We've been planning this since January,” said DSG head girl Kirsty Walker, “and everything has come together wonderfully.”
And the organisers really outdid themselves as they managed to secure one of South Africa's most famous singers, Freshly Ground frontwoman Zolani Mahola, to be the guest of honour at the occasion.
After speaking to the crowd about Youth Day, she brought everyone together with her enthusiasm and well-loved songs. Her energetic singing of 'Doo Be Doo' and her rendition of 'Waka Waka' (that she performed with international star Shakira at the 2011 Soccer World Cup opening ceremony) was enough to get even the oldest audience member jiving!
“The youth of 1976 were not so different from you guys, they knew they had a voice even though they were told they did not,” Mahola told the assembled learners.
“That's what 'Doo Be Doo' means; who you are is what you do and what you do is a reflection of you. So love yourself and others, become an asset to society and make it so others look up to you.”
St Andrew's head boy Ntsiki Mlamleli hopes that next year the event will reach even greater heights.
“We're very proud of how well things went this year, next time around we will be more inclusive and try have even more schools present so we can celebrate as one,” he said.
