Eldorado Park: Charlize Theron – SA’s very own choma
DREAMS come true for young women
Young women in Eldorado Park face an uphill struggle on a daily basis. From teenage pregnancy and abuse to substance abuse, the struggles encountered by these adolescents are enough to bring even the most hardened hearts to tears.
From their experiences, strong young women have emerged victorious to disprove the commonly-held perception that overcoming these challenges are impossible.
The spread of HIV/AIDS in the community is a concern to most parents who are helpless in the face of the overwhelming pressures young women have to contend with.
According to HIV South Africa, “Young women are the most vulnerable to the spread of HIV in South Africa.
Every week 2 363 young women aged 15 to 25 are infected with HIV and part of the many challenges that they face, include high rates of both HIV infection and teenage pregnancy.
Approximately 100 000 girls in South Africa drop out of school each year due to pregnancy. Females in vulnerable communities have limited opportunities and access to safe spaces, they do not have programmes that build their resilience and reduce risk.”
Community-based initiatives often fail to offer girl-friendly programmes but the Choma Dreams Café is proving to be an exception to this rule.
This initiative has impacted several lives and has taught these girls what it is to follow through on their DREAMS.
They aim to uplift young women in the community through the DREAM initiative, which is an acronym for raising Determined, Resilient, Empowered, AIDS-free, Mentored, and Safe women.
There are approximately 40 Choma DREAMS Café’s across two provinces, 30 in the Gauteng province and 10 in KwaZulu-Natal.
Lorna Fisher, founder of the PUSH Centre said, “We are happy to have a Choma DREAMS Café here.”
“I want to say thank you, Charlize Theron, for the work that you are doing in our community.”
The world famous South African actress, Charlize Theron visited the centre on August 16 to share her journey to womanhood in hopes that her story would inspire them to reach for their dreams.
A seemingly nervous Theron asked the girls to join her on the podium and said,“It is exciting for me to be here.
“You guys are incredibly inspiring to me.”
She described the foundation’s work as part of getting the girls to open up about their experiences and not to fear being ostracised by their communities for speaking out about taboo subjects such as rape and abuse.
She said that a lot of her roles in movies are a conscious decision, on reflection of the work done by the Charlize Theron Outreach Programme to empower female youths.
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