Mail & Guardian | 24 Oct 2008  

The Sonke PhotoVoice Project allows children to talk about their wants and needs. Kristin Palitza reports

Childhood in rural KwaZulu-Natal is short and often interrupted by struggles youngsters should usually not be faced with. Poverty, hunger, lack of social services, crime and HIV are just some of the struggles children shouldn't have to face but do.

Schoolchildren in the village of Nkandla, in the heart of Zululand, have a variety of problems that may not even occur to adults: from dusty roads that cause asthma to being forced to walk an hour each day to school because of inadequate public transport. Some children wish for running water and electricity to cut down on the many hours they spend every day collecting firewood and fetching water from the river.

“If I had less chores to do, I would have more time to do my homework and study for school,” one girl said. NGO Sonke Gender Justice spoke to 20 learners from Mphathesitha High School in Nkandla, in the heart of Zululand, and implemented a photography and writing project that would help turn their hopes and dreams into instant community action.

With support from United Nations children’s fund UNICEF, Sonke ran a four-day PhotoVoice workshop to create a space for children between the ages of 12 and 18 to talk about their experiences and mobilise adults, especially men, to help them meet their needs.

“We want to build confidence and self-esteem by teaching new skills,” says Sonke PhotoVoice project manager Nyanda Khanyile. “Many children in rural communities experience social ills but they don’t know how to express themselves.”

After the initial conversations, children were taught how to transfer their stories into photography and writing. Photos and stories were then printed on posters and exhibited in the Mphathesitha community hall in Nkandla. More than 600 people came to see the works, including representatives from both municipality and traditional leadership.

Nkandla municipality strategic planning and implementation manager, Mbongiseni Ndlela, says the municipality supports the PhotoVoice project as part of a broader strategy of caring and nurturing children: “If we don’t invest in our children, we don’t have a future. So we decided to make children a central part of municipal development planning.”

Ndlela promises the children’s requests will be considered in the municipality’s Integrated Development Plans (IDPs) and thereby directly influence local policy-making. “Normally, the leadership only consults adults during annual imbizos [traditional gatherings]. Through interacting directly with children, IDPs will now be informed by the children not only talk about them,” he says.

Thulile Khanyile (14): “Sport does not discriminate people gender [sic]. Many people belive [sic] that soccer is played by Males but female [sic] can play too.”

“I didn’t know that girls can play soccer. I thought it was a sport only for boys. I wanted to show that even girls can play. When we started the girls’ team, a lot of people thought it was not right because a girl must focus on her school work and help at home with the cooking, cleaning and washing. But we showed them that we can play soccer and also succeed in school.”

Thulane Shange (15): “At our school we have one tap but we have many learners. Girls must have the tap and boys must have there tap [sic]. Because when the boy wants to drink and there is a girl on the tap he just push the girl [sic].”

“I learnt many things [during the project]. I used to think boys and girls can’t do the same things. I thought girls have to clean, cook and do chores around the house, and boys have to fetch firewood and herd cattle. I now understand that women can also be heads of households and must be given the same rights and responsibilities as men.”

Khayelethu Zondi (16): “If am [sic] inside the school I feel safe because, there are things that are not allowed to be inside. So we are all protected from bad things from out side [sic].”

“I know my school is school is safe for children. Drugs and weapons cannot come inside my school because they will hurt the learners. But, outside of my school, when I walk through the streets, sometimes I don’t feel safe because there are people that get drunk and get violent.”

Nompumelelo Masikane (16): “I take the photograph of my school chairperson because he is my role model. He always encourage [sic] the youth to think about their future. He always tells the youth that they are the future leaders. He inspires me to focus on my school work and forget about useless things like drinking alcohol and dating.”

“I also learned [during the project] that we need to take care of people who have HIV. If somebody has HIV, don’t neglect that person, take care of her, include her. They still have a life.”