A news sense of purpose for youngsters
Through music and drama children are educated.
A non-profit organisation aimed at creating systemic change among South African youth who are at risk, The Jonathan Butler Foundation (JBF), in partnership with the Gauteng Provincial Government recently conducted a holiday programme for children in Kagiso.
Using a combination of existing and proven youth-oriented diversion programmes with its unique music and arts therapy approach, the holiday programme is aimed at instilling a sense of purpose in disaffected youth.
Over five hundred young people between the ages of 10 and 16 attended the workshops and fun activities like music, dance, drama and visual art were offered during the workshops.
Daily programme activities culminated in a final live concert which community leaders, friends and family eagerly attended.
Local drug and action committees in each of the areas facilitated the process and identified the schools from which the youth were invited to attend.
The JBF hopes to see this become more prevalent as they roll out other holiday programmes as by doing this the youth is engaged and once again have a purpose that changes lives.
“Through these interventions our aim is to rid our communities of the ‘at-risk’ tag, and empower them in becoming communities ‘at-hope’ while becoming responsible for their own development. This is an active way of reclaiming our environment from those who perpetrate social disharmony and disorder,” says CEO of the JBF Freddy Arendse.
Much like many of the participants in the JBF Holiday Programme, Butler himself was exposed to certain hardships when he was growing up.
As a result of these experiences he has been determined to use his influence to create a vehicle that positively can affect today’s youth exposed to similar circumstances, and hence, the formation of the Jonathan Butler Foundation.
