Leandra youths take part in drought resilience project

The youth of Leandra township were involved in a project outlining resilience among young people in a community affected by drought.

Prof Angie Hart from the University of Brighton in the UK began the project in response to a call for funding about resilience in the context of drought as one of the global challenges.

She partnered with the centre for the study of resilience at the University of Pretoria (Faculty of Education), University of Johannesburg, University of Cape Town and Khulisa Social Solutions.

Prof Hart said the project aims to explore how young people in South Africa cope with the physical and mental impacts of droughts.

Young people were given the task to speak to the elders and the community leaders to get historic knowledge of how they managed to be cope with droughts.

The focus was on how the community knows when there is a drought, what they see, how they feel and how they manage.

“The beauty of the project was that young people went out and spoke to the community which is helping them to learn research skills,” said Dr Motlalepule Mampane from the University of Pretoria.

Prof Linda Theron from the University of Pretoria mentioned that they realised the community defines a drought differently and some referred to a drought as a lack of water.

The community was also aware of the role of the municipality during a drought, such as supplying them with water with mobile water tanks.

As part of the project, young people used image theatre to encourage the community to stay resilient during droughts.

Prof Hart said they will return on Monday, 2 October to share the findings with the community.

More information regarding the project is available at www.boingboing.org.uk.

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