Video: Changing black street children through surfing

Via Sky Soil & Everything in Between

This is a new promo ad for Umthombo, a project to rehabilitate Durban's (South Africa) street kids through surfing and other positive sporting and health projects. It's run mainly by former street kids who are now trained as youth care workers, social workers, advocacy leaders etc, Umthombo depends on the generous donations of the public so if you have second hand surfing gear or are interested in helping in other ways - through donation, gift-giving or volunteering please checkout: www.umthombo.org.

Nelson Mandela International Day ! - July 18th

Today it's Mandela Day. On November 2009, the UN General Assembly declared July 18 Nelson Mandela International Day in recognition of the former South African president’s contribution to the culture of peace and freedom. Website www.nelsonmandela.org

I forgot of doing something special today, but I will catch up.

World Cup: What happened to the Black Dutch “beer babe”?

Photo: Cheering Black girl on the right
Dozens of Dutch female football fans in Bavaria "Dutchdress" were in the international spotlight after they were arrested at the World Cup stadium because they violated FIFA sponsorship rules.

But where was the cheering black girl in the Bavaria commercial which is aired in the Netherlands? See video commercial here.

The scene in South Africa at the World Cup.



It reminds of the international poster of the film Couples Retreat, where the black actors got deleted from the poster to "simplify" it for a European audience.

Maybe sponsor Bavaria was simplifying “Holland” for the world.

What’s R. Kelly doing at the World Cup?

What’s R. Kelly doing at the World Cup? This is one of the biggest world events and they let R. Kelly perform?

R. Kelly’s new song “Sign of a Victory” is chosen as one of the three official 2010 FIFA World Cup anthems. Kelly and the South African group the Soweto Spiritual Singers, will perform “Victory” at the June 11 opening ceremony in Johannesburg.

I know Mr Kelly was never convicted of having, how shall I put it .., "indecent video material", but I when I heard of it I never listened to his music again.

Couldn’t they have chosen someone who is more ..., how shall I put it, in line with modern international Black standards.

World Cup Opening Ceremony Without Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela will not attend the opening World Cup match as his family grieved the death of great grandchild Zenani, the Nelson Mandela Foundation said on Friday.

The statesman said that it would be "inappropriate" to be present after Zenani Mandela, 13, was killed in a car accident in the early hours of Friday morning as she returned home from a World cup concert near Johannesburg. Read full story here

Video: South African World Cup 2010 and Nelson Mandela.

Estelle announces appearance at Cool Brittannia Festival during World Cup Football

Estelle has announced that she will be bringing her stunning live show to Cool Britannia festival in Cape Town on the June 11th – on the evening of the tournaments opening day and to launch what is set to be a spectacular month long party at the game’s greatest tournament.

Estelle - American Boy - Later Live with Jools


www.coolbritanniasa.com

Is World Cup 2010 changing the image of South Africa?

Is the World Cup Football 2010 really changing the image of South Africa?

I am not so sure. In The Netherlands I am not getting any new images of South Africa. So some comments, quotes and images I picked up these past few days.

I have watched three programs on the Dutch TV about South Africa. The first was a football program, the second a journey-trough-Africa program, and the third was program about the legacy of Charles Darwin (the Beagle).

If I had watched one, I probably would have seen the other two. The topics where race relations in South Africa, poor whites, poor blacks, white supremacists, black activists, Nelson Mandela, Robin Island, and images of the Apartheid. So it was the the “regular” view of South Africa.

However there was conversation in a program (the Beagle) which really shocked me. It was the conversation with genetic scientist Himla Soodyall about how she felt during the days of the 'apartheid' when she spoke to a white person."



She said “O yes of course I was born during the day of apartheid. If you spoke to me 16 or 17 years ago I would probably not even opened my mouth because I would have felt so inferior talking to a white person.

The reporter replied: “So now you are not impressed by me anymore, as a white?“

Laughing she answered : “Fortunately these day when I look at people I don't see colour as an item that I used to take in my person with whom I was contact with. There were times that would have been an issue.”

The images

The Apartheid


Poor whites

Translation:Exactly. They would have worked with Forest department. [They have lost their privileges they had under the apartheid regime.]

A youth movement

Translation: We don’t tolerate racial polarisation in our country

The South African creole

Translation: Voice of Himla Soodyall: "That's how it would be here [if there hadn't been apartheid, then creolisation would have taken place], I am almost certain."

The film Skin – Starring Sophie Okonedo

The film Skin has finally made it to the Netherlands. Skin is of course the portrayal of the life of Sandra Laing, a dark skinned girl born to white (Afrikaan) parents in South Africa during the Apartheid era. With UK born actress Sophie Okonedo as Sandra Laing. In an interview Okonedo said that her upbringing was not too dissimilar to Laing’s. Okenedo is bi-racial Nigerian/Jewish.

Also read the interesting review of the film on shadow and act.



But now Amsterdam. On the blog of the film I read ‘Dutch Courage’. But why do you need courage to show this film? On shadow and act screenwriter and film critic Wendy Okoi-Obuli wrote:" You know who Okonedo is, right? Dirty Pretty Things, Hotel Rwanda, Aeon Flux, The Secret Life of Bees… as well as lots of TV and theatre roles under her belt. OK, so you may not like her entire body of work, you may not even like her acting style, but she’s an Oscar nominated actress; surely that’s enough to at least make her a bankable name, right? Not to most film distributors, it isn’t. “ Read the full story here

From September 11the till October 30th the film will be shown in Europen movie theatres. From October 30th it will be distributed in the US.

Skin’s official movie website

Interview with Sophie Okonedo


The Dutch data for your google agenda

Skin – The story of mixed 'outcast' Sandra Laing

Sandra Laing was a black baby born to white parents at the height of apartheid in South Africa. The hatred, rejection and heartache she suffered at the hands of the authorities, her teachers and her family sent shock waves across the world.

On the timesonline a story was published about her life, the racial implications of being stuck in the racial middle during the apartheid in South Africa, and about the movie Skin. "The story goes beyond race. It’s about a need to belong, a need to be loved and accepted. There’s a moment when her father lovingly puts skin-bleaching cream on her face to lighten her skin. It burns and he blows on it. Fabian (Producer and director of the film Skin) describes Laing as like a peach. “The skin easily bruises, but there is a hard core, a big stone of strength.

The one thing that haunts Laing is her relationship with her brothers. Neither of them speaks to her. When Adriaan was a baby she used to cradle him and feed him. “Leon told me that if Adriaan’s wife finds out that he has been talking to me she is going to divorce him.” Is it because Adriaan, himself quite dark-coloured, is ashamed of his even darker sister and the way it might interrupt his nice white life? “I don’t know what colour his children turned out to be. People say they are white. He must remember me, how close we were. Maybe he is scared of his wife.” Read the full story here.

In a book review bi-racial author Rebecca Walker wrote about laing's story. " Laing's story is similar to that of many who straddle racial designations that have more to do with social engineering than with actual differences among human beings. Shame, alienation from family members, memory loss and difficulty in sustaining a stable home are a few of the possible effects of belonging to more than one racial category. Ironically, Laing eventually seems to have found some peace with help from members of the same media that once took part in her objectification. Two journalists in particular helped to fit the pieces of Laing's life together, and as a result of their work to reunite Laing with her estranged mother, she finally felt unburdened. In a moving passage, one of those journalists, Judith Stone, tells of Laing dreaming that she was "laughing and laughing"; she felt "a new space open up in her heart."

The sad part is that one her parents has black roots, but ended up being a pro-white nationalist.

See more pictures here

See youtube video: Sandra Laing: A Spiritual Journey - South Africa