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I read the shocking incident of a young South African stowaway found dead inside the wheel cavity of a British Airways Boeing in Los Angeles on a flight from Cape Town. So many questions went through my mind: what causes such despair in a young man living in an economically vibrant country with so many opportunities? What should the nation do to avoid such despair? What opportunities are there for participating in the country's development? It reminded me of the woman who asked Kahlil Gibran to speak on children. In his celebrated masterpiece, The Prophet, he said:
You may give them your love but not your thoughts
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies, but not their souls
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit,
not even in your dreams
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday For our youth to believe they have a bright future in this country they need to gain knowledge and skills. It is our duty as a society to provide them with these. Two immediate interventions that could make a huge difference come to mind: - A good quality education that would equip young people to think critically and to be solution-oriented in their approach to life
- A chance to grow up healthy, escape HIV and AIDS, and live to old age.
Most young people in South Africa are unlikely to matriculate and be eligible for university entrance. One reason for their failure is a lack of a solid primary school foundation that allows learners to grasp the basics of numeracy and literacy. It is incumbent upon us at the HSRC to team up with the Department of Education (DoE) to provide our youth with these skills, starting at a young age. The HSRC has also teamed up with key education groups and the DoE to try new approaches that might improve the quality of education in the areas of numeracy and literacy in public schools. The other immediate intervention is to give young people accurate knowledge or tools to protect them from becoming infected with HIV. The HSRC, non-governmental partners and donor agencies, with the support of government, conduct research that tracks the knowledge levels, the incidence and prevalence of HIV, and access to preventive technologies among the youth. HSRC researchers are collaborating in various research projects to further these goals. But we all must do more while always keeping in mind Khalil Gibran’s words: ‘You may give them your love but not your thoughts, for they have their own thoughts.’ For this reason the HSRC has launched a Youth Initiative that will focus on the many varied research activities on youth in the HSRC and the country, together with policymakers, stakeholders in civil society and the implications for policy. Read more on the initiative on page 12 of this edition. Dr Olive Shisana
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