Guelph youth join vibrant African dance display
Posted on 19. Jan, 2010 by I Have Hope in In The News
FLASHBACK: August 24, 2009
Rob O’FlanaganHLOTSE, LESOTHO — A once-in-a-lifetime scene unfolded on the weekend at the Hlotse High School, as young community activists from Guelph and Toronto met their Basotho counterparts for an exchange of contemporary dance moves.
Members of the Guelph-based development group Student Reach spent several days in Lesotho this past week, meeting with a local youth group and visiting the HIV/AIDS clinic Student Reach is committed to supporting. The group has set a goal to raise $25 million for the Bracelet of Hope Campaign.
The nucleus of the not-for-profit community development organization, which originated in Guelph and expanded to a number of other post-secondary institutions, is formed by Brittany Martyn, Abid Virani, Ashley Bondad, Meaghan Morriss, Nicole Malatesta and Mathew Baptista. All are 19, all have Guelph roots or connections, and all have been travelling in Africa over the past several weeks, tending to community development projects they initiated and funded in Kenya and Tanzania and which they hope to launch here in Lesotho over the next two years.
“In Tanzania we were doing a water filtration project for the Faith, Love and Hope orphanage,” Baptista said. “We brought the filters from Canada, and we laid all the pipes and installed the filters.”
Also in Tanzania, members of the group initiated an economic development project in which they studied the revenue generation potential of a bakery and a brick-making business in a local village. A nutritional study was also conducted, in which locals were given tips on how to boost the nutritional value of their food.
In Hlotse on Sunday afternoon, an extraordinary scene unfolded as the six university students broke out dance moves in a large, sparsely furnished high school classroom. By Canadian standards, the school is in disrepair with broken windows on most of the buildings and poorly equipped classrooms throughout.
The event was a meeting of community development minds, as Student Reach’s Lesotho counterparts, a group called Stimulating Vibrant, hosted them in a sharing of funky hip-hop and break-dancing moves. Poems were recited and skits with strong, relevant social messages were performed. About 20 Basotho youth, most of them boys, turned out in their hippest fashions.
In the audience were Bracelet of Hope leader Dr. Anne-Marie Zajdlik, Waterloo Mayor Brenda Halloran — a Bracelet of Hope supporter — and Andy McDougall, executive director of Bracelet of Hope. They are on a three-week visit to South Africa and Lesotho to bring attention to the ravages of HIV/AIDS in the country, the efforts to combat it and the need to accelerate treatment and prevention through methods such as better drugs.
Stimulating Vibrant is a one-of-kind youth group in Hlotse raising funds for programs that empower young people to build better communities. Student Reach has a similar mandate in Canada, motivating young people to engage in community development work at home and abroad.
“We are just doing our thing,” said Moeketsi Samson Motikoe, an organizer of Stimulating Vibrant. “Everyone has different talents, and we showcase our different talents — dancing, singing and poetry. We are aiming very high. We want to lift our country high.”
The group is raising money — a scarce possession in this country — to feed children orphaned by the HIV/AIDS pandemic, and the grandmothers that are raising so many of them. Members of the group visit the elderly and do chores for them.
Baptista and other members of Student Reach said they have been fundamentally changed by their African experience.
“It’s impossible to describe the sense of fulfillment you get from knowing that your hard work goes to helping the people here,” Baptista said. “They are so grateful, and they are the nicest people in the world. I have loved Africa.”
Brittany Martyn said she was overwhelmed by Africa, and especially by Lesotho.
“It’s been absolutely amazing,” she said. “When I first arrived here I didn’t expect this kind of friendliness. But the reception I’ve received has been absolutely incredible. Lesotho itself has awestruck me. The scenery is incredible, the people are so, so welcoming. But you don’t realize when you first get here the amount of issues there are that need to be dealt with.”
Martyn said the situation in the rural areas of Lesotho is dire, with poverty and HIV/AIDS-related illness threatening to destroy communities.
“I have to wonder where those people are getting their medical care, or where they are getting clean water,” she said. “Starvation is an issue.”
She was, however, encouraged by the number of organizations she learned about that are working to improve the lives of the Basotho people.
Baptista was asked if the $25-million goal for Bracelet of Hope is achievable.
“Oh, yeah,” he said, without hesitation. “In a couple of years they (Masai for Africa) managed to get $1 million from Guelph. We have all of these universities coming on board — Ryerson, Dalhousie, McGill. I believe in youth and what they can do. When students come together they can do something really powerful.”
Student Reach members have been exploring possible community development opportunities in this country. The group’s 2011 campaign, Reach Lesotho, will send 12 students to the country to engage in a number of projects.
The members of the group toured on Sunday evening the Tsepong Clinic in Hlotse, the HIV/AIDS treatment facility for which they are raising funds. Abid Virani was deeply moved by the visit to the clinic, as were the others.
“Walking through that clinic, to hear about the progress that has been made over the years and to know that we have had an impact on that is extremely powerful,” he said.
Mercury journalist Rob O’Flanagan was travelling in Africa with a delegation led by Dr. Anne-Marie Zadjlik. He was exploring the impact of the $1-million fundraising campaign achieved in the Guelph area to combat HIV/AIDS in Lesotho. Please visit his Delivering Hope blog at www.guelphmercury.com.
