Zula Culture 6th of June

J: Wow! Its REALLY GREAT to be BACK!
Zula Culture is ever growing and changing!
I had a taste of the wine Charlotte had on the table,
even my uncultured palette could appreciate
the loveliness of this Zoetendal Shiraz 2004.

V: Unfortunately by the time I got to the wine tasting
table it was like old Mother Hubbard’s cupboard….bare.
So the wine must have been good.

J; In the exhibition room to kick off our youth theme,
we had a beautiful canvas painted by the children
of the project, Hope for the children, from the farm
in Tamboerskloof. They are all children from the street, housed by Artist Andre Scheepers on the farm with
all the animals, a place they now call home!
And with passionate people like Katy Swanson on
the team, working on making it even better
for the children. I admire people like that, taking
the time to help and care for others. If anyone wants
to give their time, skill, food, clothes, really anything
you can contribute,
please contact Katy swanson.kathryn@gmail.com
or visit their website www.hopeforthechildren.co.za
They also have big braais on Saturday’s
where ‘children heading households’, organisations
from the townships and HIV orphans can enjoy
painting, playing, all kinds of workshops
and of course…..
there is nothing like a South African Braai!

V: Yes the canvas was very inspired and inspiring.
In fact there was one young man who generally refuses to take part in activities who absolutely loved the canvas and because of this his piece was a diamond among
the jewels. It just goes to show that if children are given something that inspires, they themselves can become inspirational. During the course of the evening,
I was kitted out in very fine style in threads designed
by Lizwephila Mabunda who really does fashion
some rather cool, hip and trendy modern street wear. Young Mr Paul Lewis and I acted as canvases
for the clothes which were so cool I had to purchase
a stylin’ pair of jeans. zwephila@yahoo.com

J: I almost fell of the bean bag when the Uqa- Uka creative movement fashion show started! I missed
their show last month and wow those girls got
the right attitude, vibe, style, soul, creativity
and ambition! Ovastand by Nosipho, Truly Me
by Danielle, shoes from Roper House of Fashion,
T-shirts by Triple Queen Productions and Joburg
based Label 25 Hour Toyi-Toyi. Uqa- Uka creative movement founders are; Nosipho- beaded jewellery. Danielle Roberts- clothing designer.
Nonhlanhla Mditshwa- public relations. nosiphod@gmail.com
d.roberts7@yahoo.com
nonhlanhla.mditshwa@gmail.comhttp://www.myspace.com/nonhlanhla

V: Absolutely I could not agree more. The Uqa-Uka girls bring a certain passion into the room. A passion
and Zulove that you can really feel once Nonhlanhla
and the girls start doing their funky thing!

J: Everyone enjoyed the interactive art table, writing
and drawing about what youth, with materials friendly sponsored by WALTONS.

V: What can I say about Luna. Honestly When I talked
to her on the phone she sounded like a 9 year old girl…and then she sings and all I can say is oh my me. The lady has a set of lungs on her that the big bad wolf could only have dreamed of.

J: Luna is always amazing to listen to, I used to go
and see her performances in Stellenbosch.
Her voice can leave you speechless! You can go to
her website, listen to her music and see her gig
line-ups on www.lunamusic.co.za . Luna also studied social work and her degree was in the therapeutic use
of music in group therapy to treat chemical dependents. I’m looking forward to seeing her future project,
which is a work in progress involving
abused women and children.

V: Now I get to Brown..Where to start?..
Ok I don’t want to go on too much about him but here
is a young man who hails from the USA and has,
by the hand of fate ended up in South Africa
and doing his fair share to highlight the problems
facing disadvantaged youth. He does this through
the perceptive and hard hitting lyrics in his music
and on a more pragmatic level through the Brown foundation. He is a fascinating, respectful and frankly speaking very nice young man so please check
out as much of his work as you can.

J: Brown is another one of those amazing people
I talked about earlier on……taking the time to help
and care for children and under the situation of young street children better.
Go to his website http://www.thebrownfoundation.co.za
and don’t miss his talk show which raises
important youth issues on CCFM 107.5 FM. It’s called ‘Sidewalk Talk with Brown’; every second Wednesday from 21h30.That is it for our youth theme then!
Hope you all took the time on the 16th of June
to acknowledge what happened in 1976, and what
a brave and important step that was for the young
Black youth, standing up for their rights! Now we just hope the teachers get acknowledged for the important job they do. The sad thing in everything is that
it’s always the children who suffer at the end of the day……it’s not suppose to work like that!!
We can all do our part to change it for the better.

Don’t miss out on next months Zula Culture 4th of July! Lots of spoken word, lovely warm soup, wine tasting, fashion and design goodies!

Love to the youth!
Jolette & Vusa

... the wine guys

... beautiful canvas painted by the children

... Katy


... Vusa, kitted out in very fine style


... Uqa- Uka models on the floor

... interactive art table

.... Luna chats with Zoe and Vusa



.... off the street