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Wales for Africa: Stories of Success

Ubuntu!
Valleys Kids – Cape Town - Pontypridd

“We called our link with South Africa Ubuntu! This roughly translates as ‘humanity’ in African or ‘we are who we are because of what we all are.’ In other words, we’re all connected.”

Denise Lord is a remarkable woman who is passionate about connecting disaffected young people in two very different but strikingly similar communities – the former coal-mining valleys of South Wales and Langa, a township in Cape Town, South Africa. Denise is the Development Coordinator with Valleys Kids, a charity working with disadvantaged children and families.

“It began when I met a band from Cape Town called Amampondo at the Brecon Jazz Festival,” she says. “They are Xhosa (Nelson Mandela's tribe), using songs and dances relating to their tribal traditions. Denise immediately realised what Amampondo’s brilliantly talented and inspirational musicians could bring to Valleys Kids.

In this area of South Wales disaffected young people face negative peer pressure relating to drugs, alcohol and early pregnancy and economic inactivity. A poverty of aspiration blights people’s lives. Amampondo hail from Langa in the opposite hemisphere, which is also a mining community albeit with different levels of hardship and poverty. Langa is one of the oldest townships in Cape Town, where people live in shacks nailed together from scavenged materials.

Valleys Kids pledged to develop a mutually beneficial link with Langa’s people, involving exchanges of development workers, volunteers and young people, with the ultimate aim of creating a supportive, multi-cultural, enriching partnership. Both groups use the arts to engage young people and encourage them to change their perception of who they are.

“With help from Barclays we organised workshops and gigs in each of our centres, which are based in very deprived communities,” says Denise. “The members of Amampondo talked about conditions back home and what they were trying to achieve. The children learnt traditional African songs including the African National anthem Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika and fabulous traditional tribal African dances.”

One child, Craig Cox from Rhydyfelin, has been part of the workshops every time they have come. He's been coming to Valleys Kids since he was eight (he is now 14) as part of our Artworks team, doing drama and theatre. As a result he has become more confident and is passionate about Africa.

At the opening of Penygraig’s Soar Centre, in 2006, Amampondo performed with Valleys Kids in a multi-cultural celebration. One of them read a letter of goodwill from Archbishop Desmond Tutu:

“Wales is blessed to have organizations such as Valleys Kids, who know how precious children are, and exist to encourage them to grow, to walk tall and to strive to become the truly beautiful people God intended them to be. I look forward to the time when your children will link with us: Welsh gold and African diamonds.”

The relationship received a boost when Valleys Kids won funding from the Wales Council for Voluntary Action Gold Star linking initiative, enabling Denise and Roger Wilcox, a youth worker with Valleys Kids, to go to Langa in 2007. “It was a brilliant opportunity,” says Denise. “The experience made me realise how fortunate our kids are in a way and how much more is needed over there.”

Denise and Roger witnessed in three contrasting situations how dance improves young people’s self-esteem. They saw township children practising ballet in a new, fully-equipped centre as part of the Dance for All Project in Athlone; children learning ballroom dancing in a community centre in Mfuleni, a poor township; and “in almost total darkness in a dirt space surrounded by shacks in Langa, a group of children practising hip-hop on their own initiative,” Denise says.

This positive energy in the midst of poverty, insecurity and violence left a deep impression on her. "It makes you question your whole value system. It's the consumer society - we are all victims of it. The kids in the Valleys certainly are. Although 'deprived’ and facing major challenges and problems in their lives, many of them have still have the trappings of our materialistic society such as mobile phones, satellite TV and other possessions that these Africans can only dream of. These kids have far less but seem happier."

Why is this? Denise suggests, “We don't appreciate what we have and what is missing in our lives. It’s not easy growing up in the Valleys. Our role is to change negative self-perceptions and try to give our kids, who are often disaffected and bunk off school, a sense of confidence and self-belief. In Langa they really appreciate education and work hard so they can go to school - they desperately want to improve themselves. Despite their shocking living conditions, they get on with it, and seem to have more joy and happiness.” Valleys Kids hope to harness some of their spirit.

Denise is clearly passionate about Valleys Kids’ vision: ‘a celebration of the achievements of individuals and communities who, through trying different activities and having difference experiences, broaden their horizons and achieve their potential.’

“I believe this partnership project between Langa and the Rhondda is an ideal way to achieve this,” Denise says. “It gives a unique opportunity for individuals in both communities to grow and learn together and gives us the chance to discover the spirit of Ubuntu,” concludes Denise. “Let’s celebrate our differences and share our togetherness.”

Find out more at www.valleyskids.org.

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