About this project

Imagine growing up in a community where unemployment is 70% (or more). What is your hope for your future? It’s easy enough to say an education is your ticket out. But what if that system, despite colossal efforts is failing almost all the students coming through? Imagine trying to teach kids in a community where the gang violence is tearing the school apart, where the children are often too hungry to learn, where all your efforts seem in vain as the majority of students drop out or fail. Wasn’t it supposed to be different by now in the new South Africa? Shouldn’t the government be radically overhauling these schools and creating a better future for these kids?

What if a major part of the solution to supporting the success of our youth is actually outside of school? What if the solutions lay as much in the hands of the community as in those of policy makers? It means the various actors in the community have a major responsibility. Unequal education under the previous system and the brutality that was part of that system did a lot to disempower people. Since then, new schools were built, but not enough regard was given to the many challenges to succeeding inside them that the children attending them would face. But we know that the biggest influences on a child’s ability to learn are actually outside the schoolhouse walls. Sometimes the missing puzzle piece that helps a child do well in school is quality healthcare or better nutrition just as much as help with homework. Is it possible to connect the out-of-school with the in-school?

At present one can find “islands of success” in strong schools or in community groups who are working with young people to realise their potential. What if those islands could be connected to provide comprehensive support for young people in and out of school? Filmmaker Wim Steytler and Amandla Development are partnering to tell the story of efforts to do just that, to connect the dots between isolated successes and systems-level change.

This film is also going to give young people from different communities in the Cape Town area of South Africa the chance to tell their stories. We’ll see how a holistic approach to improving education is so necessary, how these young people, though from very different environments, all need support on many levels. Just one voice describing that level of complexity isn’t enough.

The film will be a tool for Amandla Development’s efforts to bring people together to solve complex social issues. The work demands collective effort from actors across sectors in a given community. By showing the breadth of challenges and the necessity of many inputs, Amandla will use the film to spark action. Because it isn’t always obvious how quality healthcare, adequate nutrition, activities for after school, or family support contribute to a young person’s ability to learn, we’d like to show it and hear from the people involved. As people watch the film and see other people like them doing it for themselves, the empowerment that can come from that can make all the difference. The fact of the matter is there will have to be that initiative and that movement for South Africa’s development to be sustainable and equitable. By supporting this film you're supporting a brighter future for South Africa's youth. Siyabulela! Baie dankie! Thank you!