Design For Change South Africa

Khartoum, Sudan, my beloved home from 2018 - 2020 is now a war zone in which two warlords fuelled by warmongers are fighting each other with bullets, bombs and missiles, killing hundreds and displacing hundreds of thousands of innately peaceful people.

https://othmusiccollective.bandcamp.com/track/home-a-song-for-sudan

‘Home, a song for Sudan’ is a song I released as a call to action to help people fleeing violence in Khartoum get to safety and to enable the provision of online and onsite mental health support for displaced youth and families.

From 2018 - 2020 I was a school teacher and wellbeing volunteer at Khartoum International Community School, during which time I initiated Design For Change (DFC) Sudan (dfcworld.org/Sudan) to empower youth leadership.

The onslaught of daily hardship in Sudan broke my heart open. Political oppression. Environmental degradation. Poverty. R**e of natural resources by despots and international ‘investors.’ Roads that become rivers when it rains. Shops with intermittent supplies. Petrol queues that people sit in for hours. Power cuts. Rising costs of bread. Military rule. Yet in all my time in Sudan, I did not meet a single violent Sudanese person. Instead, the Sudanese are the most peaceful and resilient people who are holding on to hope for a peaceful, democratic, prosperous Sudan to emerge from this turmoil.

After weeks of exposure to unprecedented violence that has been destroying their city and feeling rising fear as bombs and missiles got closer to their homes, every single one of my former colleagues and students have been displaced. My friends fled their homes with the clothes on their backs and with what their arms could hold. Some made it out with the sound of bombs still echoing and some still need help to get to safety.

I wrote ‘Home, a song for Sudan’ in 2019 after the Khartoum massacre of 118 civilians and the r**e of 70 unarmed peaceful protestors. It was released on Bandcamp for song sales and donations to our fundraising campaign on Givengain to be used to:
- Evacuate members of our DFC Sudan community
- Support others who I know of (through my friends) to get to safety
- Provide mental health activities for displaced people to aide the trauma release, self-compassion and healing needed when rebuilding their lives

Two of our DFC Sudan freelancers who fled Khartoum need support. Ayman Mohammed is a freelance videographer/graphic designer stuck in a village en-route to Ethiopia and Marina George is a teacher rebuilding her life in Cairo. They have directly empowered Sudanese youth from 2019 - 2021 to lead community projects addressing environmental and social issues. My friends at my former school know of others who need help to get to safety. Ayman and Marina, while needing to address personal difficulty, are both eager to work to offer online and onsite mental health support for displaced youth and families

‘Home, a song for Sudan’ is a call to action. The song can be bought on Bandcamp for £2 OR if you can donate more than £2, please send these through Givengain (www.givengain.com/cc/help-sudanese-youth-and-families-displaced-by-current-war/). All proceeds (less platform transaction fees) go directly to support our DFC Sudan (and wider) community get to safety and to provide mental health support for displaced youth and families.

Home, a song for Sudan is a call to action to care and love and just be kind and right now - to think of our Sudanese brothers and sisters who need our help.

🙏🏼
Juanita

Home, A Song For Sudan, by Juanita Rea track by OTH Music Collective

Looking for ways to make a difference in the world? Eager to travel again? Hungry for inspiration to make your work and life more service-driven and fulfilling?
Come and Be The Change in Kuala Lumpur, Nov 18 - 20 at our annual global Design For Change celebration!
Are you an educator, school principal, corporate social responsibility leader OR simply someone passionate about enabling positive change that is youth-led? You can represent South Africa at the Be The Change Celebration and join delegates from 22 countries coming together to:
- celebrate our youth leaders who are driving change in their communities AND
- to join fun workshops and masterclasses that help us to be 'Happier People, designing a Happier Future together.'
https://www.dfcworld.org/Home/innerpage?cname=SouthAfrica&node=1174&node1=140

Contact us today:
- Ayanda Timothy, [email protected], 067 118 8822
- Juanita Rea, [email protected], +447510456694 (WhatsApp only)

Design For Change South Africa updated their information in their About section.

Looking for ways to make a difference in the world? Eager to travel again? Hungry for inspiration to make your work and life more service-driven and fulfilling?

Come and Be The Change in Kuala Lumpur, Nov 18 - 20 at our annual global Design For Change celebration!

Are you an educator, school principal, corporate social responsibility leader OR simply someone passionate about enabling positive change that is youth-led? You can represent South Africa at the Be The Change Celebration and join delegates from 22 countries coming together to:
- celebrate our youth leaders who are driving change in their communities AND
- to join fun workshops and masterclasses that help us to be 'Happier People, designing a Happier Future together.'

https://www.dfcworld.org/Home/innerpage?cname=SouthAfrica&node=1174&node1=140

Contact us today:
- Ayanda Timothy, [email protected], 067 118 8822
- Juanita Rea, [email protected], +27 84 357 4317 (WhatsApp only)

Is there ever any reason not to do good? Is there ever any reason not to plant trees?!! Just make it happen. Like Yasmin Yassir Dafalla did in Sudan by planting 200 banana trees over the past few days with the help of many people who said.."Yes! We Can!!" Plant oxygen. Plant a tree. No reason not to. Every reason why you should!

Over the past months, our empathic, innovative and passionate DFC Student Council https://www.dfcworld.org/SITE/council has been meeting online to FEEL what bothers them and to IMAGINE a way to make a difference in our world. Their solution - every child using their superpowers to PLANTOX! Yes....every child can plant oxygen!!

Now it's up to you to DO some tree-planting and SHARE your story with us!! Your story can be submitted in this year’s I CAN Challenge and be considered for entry for the BE THE CHANGE online celebration (closing Sept 13) and even the RAINFOREST Challenge (closing Sept 30).

It's simple. All you have to do is get into a group of 5, plan how where/when/how you're going to plant trees and continue caring for them, document your act of change and submit your story! What are you waiting for??? PLANTOX today!!

Woo hoo!! Submission Deadline for the Be The Change Online Celebration extended to Sept 13!

What do eduheroes do in times of difficulty?! We continue to help superheroes make change happen!! Have you got a student-led story of change to share in which 3 - 5 learners (6 - 18 years) responded to recent challenges in South Africa by driving local action? Submit a story of change by Sept 13th to be considered for entry in the Be The Change Online Celebration gathering changemakers from around the world on Nov 20! Find out more here!!
http://www.edusoil.com/bethechange2021.html

Be The Change 2021 eduSOIL has been working with the incredible Design For Change (DFC team) to empower children to be changemakers for the past 10 years! Watch the videos to find out why!! Every year the Design...

What do eduheroes do in times of difficulty?! We continue to help superheroes make change happen!! Have you got a student-led story of change to share in which 3 - 5 learners (6 - 18 years) responded to recent challenges in South Africa by driving local action? There are 3 more days to submit a story of change to be considered for entry in the Be The Change Online Celebration gathering changemakers from around the world on Nov 20! Find out more here!!
http://www.edusoil.com/bethechange2021.html