“I know I’m going to be a star one day,” Macy-Rose Heuff declares. At the age of eight, this violinist is certain music will take her far. Heuff’s growing talent is already charming audiences. With the instrument in hand, she has the courage to pursue her dreams. “I feel calm, I feel brave, I feel soft, I feel love in the violin,” she says.
Heuff knew she wanted to play the string instrument the moment she saw a performance on America’s Got Talent. Five years old at the time, she begged for lessons. Despite her initial reluctance, Heuff’s mother gave in. And it’s paid off.
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It took one question to change the course of Renier Coetzee’s life: “How can I help?" While volunteering with churches and children’s programmes, he saw the difficulties kids faced in the Cape Flats, from violence to inequality. After asking what role he could play, Coetzee gave up his intended career of becoming an actuary and decided to teach instead. “I believed I could make a bigger difference through this work,” Coetzee says. By offering holistic education to kids in Mitchells Plain, he’s unlocking their strength.
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The right to access safe and hygienic toilets is fundamental. Yet pit latrines are still the only sanitary facilities in thousands of schools across South Africa. This puts learners’ health and lives at risk. Children have died either by the structures collapsing on them or from falling into the waste. When yet another child lost their life last year, the government pledged to take action. But for Helene Bramwell, it was too late. “I was incensed,” she says. No child should die going to the bathroom. Rather than wait for change, Bramwell launched a campaign that’s restoring their dignity.
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Classrooms just got a whole lot cooler. The Department of Basic Education recently announced that they’re introducing coding to the South African curriculum. But not every school has access to computers. While some students are equipped with the knowledge to contribute to the country’s technological growth, others lack the resources to study even the basics. The results of this dichotomy become more pronounced later in life. This was the experience for 17-year-old Nadine Maselesele. “I was surprised when I got to college and learnt that the learners did not know how to prepare a CV on a computer,” she says. To boost their skills, Maselesele went back to her alma mater.
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Zahraa Hendricks had a game to win. To her, scoring tries was the challenge, not wearing a headscarf. The young hijabi didn’t expect to make headlines in her first rugby match. But when Hendricks ran onto the field, pictures of her were taken and posted to social media. Instantly, they went viral. Hendricks’ amendments to her kit had caught onlookers off-guard. For protection and as a symbol of modesty, Muslim women veil their hair. Because of it, they’re often doubly painted with the stigma of being oppressed. “That’s not true,” Hendricks says. “I am free.”
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A massive transformation is taking place in Chante Herries’ salon – and not just for those getting their hair done. Some of the stylists who work here have a background of drug addiction, and the impact it’s had on their lives has been quietly devastating. “What these women have gone through has taken away so much of their self-esteem, their confidence, their self-love,” Herries says. But in between the roar of the blow dryer, the chatter and laughs, change is in motion.
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Where does your food come from? Over half of South Africa’s population live in cities, with no direct access to farms. We scour grocery store shelves for the most attractive packaging, rather than the freshest produce. Justin Bonello felt this massive disconnect between what we consume and its origins. So the chef set out to track our daily bread from field to store to dinner table. “We’ve become so reliant on mass-produced, homogenised food that we no longer even know what real food is,” Bonello says. This realisation drove him to dig up his own Cape Town garden, a move that’s led to a city-wide farming initiative.
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The hiss of a spray can adds to the sound of Woodstock’s bustle. Street artist Chad Hanning is painting an animated visual on a once-bland wall. The cartoon figures he creates depict a multitude of feelings and offer commentary on South African politics. Hanning’s creative pursuit is a brave one. In 2010, the City of Cape Town passed a bylaw declaring the presence of graffiti anywhere within its formal jurisdiction a public nuisance. All signs of this expressive act were painted over. But Hanning believes these uniform surroundings don’t represent our vivid rainbow nation. Creating under the name Bushywopp, he’s determined to solidify the importance of street art.
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Olivia Pharo has no intention of slowing down. When the nurse resigned, she could have taken her pension and travelled the world. But this was actually the start of her bringing better healthcare to Atlantis, a suburb in the Western Cape. Working at a local hospital, Pharo experienced the burden that gang-related casualties placed on medical staff. She grew increasingly frustrated at the disproportionately high number of patients limiting the time and quality of care she was able to give. “It is a human right for every patient to be treated with respect and dignity,” Pharo says. To ensure they receive the care they deserve, she cashed in her pension and used it to open her own clinic.
In March 2019, the nurse started Sister Pharo’s Primary Health Care.
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If your clothes could talk, what would they say? Designer Balini Naidoo believes an outfit can do more than make a statement. Naidoo’s uncle is visually impaired, and she realised he struggled to identify his clothing. Choosing what to wear and reading the size and wash care details on a label can be a challenge for people who can’t see. “Fashion should be inclusive,” Naidoo says. So she began creating garments which enable people to become more self-reliant. With her range of braille apparel, she’s altering the industry.
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Love stories often make for riveting tales. Mahlatse Matlakana’s journey of courage, sacrifice, and passion is one epic romance with an unexpected source of affection – green peppers. At the age of 15, Matlakana supported her family by working on farms in Arrie Village, Limpopo. What she didn’t know was that this act of survival would lead to her owning her own business before she turned 21.
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Flip-flop art looks better than it sounds. Davis Ndungu’s colourful figures of animals are mesmerising. But their most remarkable characteristic is the artist’s medium of choice – old shoes. Every year, thousands of flip-flops end up in the ocean. Most are made of polyurethane rubber, a non-biodegradable material that’s toxic to marine life. “It is important for us to ask ourselves where the things we discard go to,” Ndungu says. When these sandals wash up on shore, they also disrupt the breeding habitats of sea creatures. To remind us of their plight, Ndungu is using recycled shoes to carve out thought-provoking sculptures.
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