A Big Talk with South Africa’s leaders of tomorrow

MaAfrika Tikkun’s COO Mark Gamble, chairman Moonyeen Castle and Amanda Blankfield (MaAfrika Tikkun Gauteng) with Colin Brown of sponsor Deutsche Bank.

There is a clear need for the youth of South Africa to become practically involved in the problem-solving process surrounding issues facing students, so as to develop South Africa’s next generation of leaders. With this in mind, MaAfrika Tikkun and Deutsche Bank hosted the second annual Big Talk Youth Conference on Thursday, 23 July.

The themes for this year’s conference — the Department of Education’s school pledge, drugs and racism — were energetically discussed amongst the students. Key solutions were presented for these problems facing high school learners, with the school pledge heatedly debated.

MEC Cameron Dugmore who facilitated the session on The School Pledge with the Events MC, member of Parliament Regina Mhlomi.

“I am very excited about the participation of all the learners involved,” says the Western Cape MEC of Education, Cameron Dugmore. “I was impressed with the content of the discussions and am pleased that the youth of South Africa were enthusiastically involved.”

The conference, held at Sea Point’s Civic Centre, created a secure and sustainable platform for high school students in the Western Cape to debate significant challenges facing them in a constructive and safe manner. 42 diverse schools were dynamically involved in a mutual problem solving process to bridge the communication gaps between decision-makers and our youth.

Students from Trafalgar High School

A committee, selected from the 126 students, will champion the decisions made, finding viable solutions for the challenges.

Thando Joka from Alexander Sinton High School in Delft said, “I feel honoured to represent my school at such an uplifting event. I learned today that although we all have diverse backgrounds and cultures, we can still find resolutions.”

“The diverse group of students that attended this year’s Big Talk Youth Conference represents a wider Western Cape youth. It is essential that they are given this unique opportunity to have their say and realise that the answers lie within in each one of them,” says Amanda Zar, manager of development, marketing and events for MaAfrika Tikkun Western Cape.

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