PRESS CONFERENCE BY FOUNDER OF SOUTH AFRICAN YOUTH PROGRAMME

South Africa was a beautiful country, but it had a lot of wounded children, Jackey Maarohanye, Soweto youth programme director, told correspondents at a Headquarters press conference today.

The press conference by the Ithuteng Trust, was sponsored by the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict.  Audrey E. Kitogawa, Adviser in the Office, introduced the participants.

Jackey Maarohanye, known as "Mama Jackey", was the founding Director of Ithuteng Trust, a youth programme that sought to soothe the troubled souls of children whose parents and families had died during the political struggles in South Africa.  The programme had so far "transformed" 2,500 youngsters,

aged 12 to 24.

Ms. Maarohanye was joined by several students of the programme.  Four of them provided testimonials during the briefing:  Sheryl Banda; Fiona Malatji; Mlulami Siwundla; and Mmakutloano Motshoane.

Ms. Maarohanye said the Ithuteng Trust was launched by former President Nelson Mandela after she approached him with concrete information about the number of black youths in trouble.  At that time, it was not fully known to what degree those children -- bitter and frustrated over the tragic deaths of their loved ones -- had been contributing to the escalating crime rate in South Africa.  But widespread homelessness and poverty had driven black youths to crime, and a disturbingly escalating number of them were winding up behind the walls of South Africa's prisons.

By 1999, she said, the Trust had managed to "transform" some 2,500 very hardened children who had been written off by both the educational system and society as “the lost generation”.  She had always believed that there was no such thing as a lost generation.  Indeed, she had managed to transform those youngsters and put them back onto a pathway.  The main ingredients to the programme's success were love, respect,  responsibility sharing, dignity, and discipline.  That had gotten the children back on their feet and enabled them to face life like anybody else.  The Trust's success over the past three years had led the South African leadership to call it "the miracle project", she said.

In the first testimonial, Ms. Banda (dressed like the others in the clothing of her tribe), said "my life is really hell".  When she was just seven years old, her parents were killed in a massacre "right before my eyes".  Her mother had been cooking when she was shot eight times, and her body fell into a boiling pot.  Her father was used like a shooting range board; so many bullets pelted into it.  Later, she was adopted by a woman neighbour, who used her and her little sister as sex slaves.  She could not recall ever having slept with young men, only with men old enough to be her grandfather.  She was a sex slave for 13 years until she was "rescued" by Ithuteng Trust.  She had not known why her parents died, only that they had died a "political death". 

Mr. Siwundla said his parents also died in the political uprisings.  He was 10 years old the last time he saw his mother.  She was headed to work and,

although the situation was "hectic", she had promised she would come back.  Unfortunately, she was shot dead on her way home.  His father was shot dead the very same day.  At 10, he was left alone in the streets, where he resorted to stealing from other people's houses.  He, too, was shot once.  He had no one to turn to until someone told him about the Ithuteng Trust, which had provided him with brothers and sisters, and a parent.  He was a grown man now –- in his second year at college –- and he knew right from wrong. 

Ms. Malatji said her biological uncle had raped her continuously on a daily basis from the age of nine.  She was afraid that if she refused, her uncle would not feed her.  The only memory she had of her mother was when she lay on her deathbed.  "I was made to be a woman long before my time", she said.  Last year, on her way to school, she was gang-raped by a group of elderly men.  She had looked forward to her graduation day at school, but without a pair of shoes, she would have been unable to attend.  Through the help of the local churches, she was able to enjoy a small graduation ceremony.  The Ithuteng Trust helped her face life again, and gave her a second chance.  She hoped she would make the Trust proud.  She was determined to be a responsible citizen of South Africa.

Ms. Motshoane said her family was at home in Soweto when the police stormed the house and dragged out her parents.  Both of them had been involved in the political struggles.  Her mother had known what was happening, but had not wanted to tell her.  But she could see the anger and cruelty in the officers' faces.  That was the last time she and her three-year-old brother had seen their parents.  Like all the children of Soweto, she had had a dream, but the atrocities of apartheid had destroyed it.  She lived on the streets and sold her body for money.  Then Mama Jackey approached her.  "Filthy as I was", Mama Jackey took her to her house, "cleaned me up, made me a person."  She was now in part-time college, and she thanked God for bringing Mama Jackey into her life.

What do you want the world to know, and how can we help you? a correspondent asked.

Ms. Maarohanye said she would like the whole world to be aware of the pain and the legacy of apartheid; the pain that had been instilled within the children and the danger of ignoring the most important part once freedom was achieved –- the children who had actually witnessed the atrocities.  If youth was the future of a country, what type of leaders could such children be without counselling and guidance?  The parents who would have guided them had died in the political struggle.  Having a better country had meant investing in its youth.  South Africa had one of the highest crime rates, but no one was asking why the children were resorting to crime instead of education. 

Another correspondent asked about the future of the Trust and whether it might be emulated in different parts of the world.

Definitely, she replied.  Having been able to transform some 2,500 children into educational success stories, she had no doubt she was on the right track.  A lack of resources had posed the only obstacle to the programme's sustainability.  The Trust could be employed throughout the world because of its holistic approach towards building trust and self-confidence, which prepared people to become proper human beings.  Those qualities could help any child anywhere in the world to cross the deepest oceans and climb the highest mountains.

Asked when she began that personal quest of helping children, and whether something in her own life had prompted her to do so, she said that the Ithuteng Trust had been in operation for 20 years.  She had been the first black woman in South Africa to start an adult basic education and training programme for those who had "missed out" on basic education because of the history of the country.  After she began bringing those educational opportunities into the prisons, she realized that a large percentage of the country's black youth were flooding the prisons instead of the schools.

What she was seeing was not what her people had fought for in 1976.  The fight had been for a stronger democracy and a better future for all.  It was then that she sought a meeting with Mr. Mandela.  She told him that the problem was being addressed too late.  Calling for the rehabilitation of children after they had committed crimes was not the answer.  A method had to be put in place to stop the commission of crimes by young people, in the first place, by loving them, teaching them and helping them to become responsible individuals.

Replying to a question about the process of taking children off the streets and building their self-confidence, she said she usually approached school principals for help in identifying deviant students.  Her experience had shown that those students often had a "story to tell".  There was no 12-year-old girl who would opt to become a prostitute without something being fundamentally wrong somewhere. 

For those children who were wild and bitter, pen and paper would not work initially, she said.  So she took them to camp for a week.  The first stop was prison, where arrangements were made for the children to spend an entire day as prisoners.  Then, approximately 400 children at one time proceeded to the campsite, where she began building their trust and confidence.  At 2 a.m., when it was still dark, a group of children would be led to a mountain and told to climb it, in search of the light.  By the time they came down the mountain, it would be light outside.

After five days at the campsite, the children were taken to hospital, where they worked in the AIDS or intensive care units, she said.  They worked with the nurses and treated people who had been shot or raped.  From there, they spend some time at a drug rehabilitation centre and a home for the elderly.  Once those exercises were complete, there was no turning back. 

Replying to a series of questions about funding and volunteerism, she said that the programme had not been funded by the Government, even though the President had acknowledged the programme, but it had not received any government funding.  The corporate sector, including in the United States, had supplied aid.  It had been very difficult to get volunteers to provide counselling.  She herself had not received a salary from the Trust.  The best way to ensure its survival was to train its students in peer counselling.  Once home, those could counsel other youngsters who had also been wounded. 

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