Poetry aims to empower youth

Through Proud Community Youth Development, a group of youngsters is discovering just how powerful their words can be through poetry.

The project, which was launched in December, aims to give young community members a platform and a means to express themselves while gaining valuable knowledge and life skills.

“We try to encourage children to read and write as much as possible,” said the project founder Ms Faradiba Morton.

Currently, around 15 children from the community, including several girls at the Strathyre Girls Home, attend the poetry classes every month at the Rhodes Park Library.

“Through poetry, the children will gain the confidence to express themselves. We want to encourage them to take part in competitions in the future. We also want to encourage them to feel free to write about what they feel,” said Ms Morton.

There is only one condition the children need to adhere to. By joining the classes, they need to be active members of the library.

“After every class, the children are helped to pick out books which will enhance their perspective on life,” said Ms Morton.

“The children must feel free to read and write as they please. By encouraging the children to read their poems to the class, we hope to build confidence within them to become better public speakers,” she added.

The world of poetry may seem like a daunting one even for most adults, so why will poetry help children?

“Poetry opens the soul and it is the key to the heart,” said Ms Morton, who is an avid poet herself.

“Children hurt and the best way to get rid of hurt is to write it out,” she said.

Ms Glenrose Ndlovu, the founder of Proud Community Youth Development and an activist against human trafficking, is a mother herself.

To her, teaching children right from wrong through words is important.

She believes that children have a unique way of expressing themselves and the community needs to support that.

“Children see things differently and we want to empower them to put what they see and how they feel into words,” said Ms Ndlovu.

The two women met in mid-2013, each with an idea to empower the youth in the community.

It was only when they sat down later that they came up with the idea to use poetry to enhance the lives of children.

Both women believe children are the future.

“We need to nurture our youth. We want to show the children that they can do it. If we do not arm the children for the future, we will not have a future,” said Ms Morton.

“We as parents look around and see drug abuse but we do nothing. It has become normal to us. Our children see us not reacting to this and they think it must be normal,” she added.

While the classes are aimed at teaching children the value of poetry in their lives as a means of expression, the classes will also be used to teach the children about the dangers of drugs and crime.

“We hope this project will lead to keeping more children off the streets,” said Ms Morton.

The group meets every second Saturday of the month at the Rhodes Park Library from 10.30am to 12-noon.

In support of the project, the EXPRESS will publish poems written by the children once a month under the banner, Poetry Empowers.

For more information, contact Ms Faradiba Morton on 074 330 1587.