UNITED AGAINST HUNGER

Every six seconds, a child dies from hunger-related causes and more than 200 million children suffer from undernutrition, according to the latest United Nations figures. Hunger and poverty is everyone’s problem and needs everyone’s help. Responding properly to the hunger problem requires urgent, resolute and concerted action by all relevant actors and at all levels. It calls for the need for all of us to be united against hunger.

This Friday, 29 October 2010 the Youth of Choice Organization will be reaching out to an impoverished community of France to feed vulnerable children and orphans as part our campaign to contribute towards poverty alleviation as contained in the Millennium Development Goals 2015.

Nelson Mandela had a dream, Martin Luther King had a dream, and Mahatma Gandhi had a dream," she said. Now it is time for all of us to dream big and mobilize an unstoppable movement of humanity to act against the hunger that continues to condemn hundreds of millions of children to unfulfilled lives simply because they have not had access to nutritious food.

Show your support for this worthy cause and your contribution will go a long way towards combating poverty. Get in touch with us at info@youthofchoice.org or 079 5396131

YOC TEAM
"Driving Social Change"

PASSION FOR CHANGE

YOC Change Agents are international and local volunteers who share YOC values, serve as role models for children and youth around the communities we work with, and choose to participate in YOC activities without compensation. YOC team of Change Agents from all sectors of society support our organization. As role models, these volunteers inspire the youth and raise awareness about the Youth of Choice locally and internationally.

Our Change Agents are credible role models, and must have the ability to build essential life skills such as goal setting, leadership, discipline, respect and teamwork. Our Change Agents may speak to the media on behalf of YOC, attend events and fundraisers. Many Change Agents have visited YOC field locations to generate awareness and fundraising opportunities, and to see the effectiveness of our programs first-hand. These visit hopes to generate significant media attention and opportunities to deliver our message to the general public.

More than 30 Change Agents currently represent YOC in programme activities and they volunteer their time for free.

Be inspired and join our Team of Change Agents. Drop us an email at info@youthofchoice.org

YOC TEAM
"Driving Social Change"

GET BUCK ON AIDS - Behaviour Change Initiative

In case you missed it, the local dance crew Predators won the GET BUCK ON AIDS krump competition recently hosted by the Youth of Choice Organization (YOC). They unseated the Spartans dance crew who wer...e the previous winners of this competition. This is a youth to youth led HIV/AIDS awareness related contest which is the project of YOC that uses krump (new form of hip hop dance) to accomplish HIV education, prevention and encouraging testing with an urban flair.

With the continued high rates of HIV infection amongst youth, YOC has found a new and innovative way to reach youth with prevention messages. The project targets young people with a cool X factor from previously disadvantage backgrounds. The project allows young people to be the voice for HIV/AIDS awareness and give them an exciting platform to exercise their creative dance energy and build their self esteem. The project has been themed “ GET BUCK ON AIDS” giving young people a creative, nonviolent outlet to be entertained and educated.

Krump (new form of hip hop dance) is gaining a lot of popularity across the youth and this is heavily influenced by television shows such as Do You Think You Can Dance and movies such as Step Up. The benefit for the project is that the young audiences identifies with the contestant, appreciate the creative approach, and are responsive to the prevention messages, and YOC hopes that young people will 'own' and promote the HIV/AIDS positive messages throughout their social circles.

When asked about the project, Jabulani Myeza the founder of the Youth of Choice Organization he said, “We see this as an effective model of communication and top of mind prevention strategy to encourage behavior change. Our research has indicated that linking popular youth culture and prevention messages will result in the adoption or maintenance of sexually healthy behaviors, the young people who are the creators and the consumers of these nontraditional interventions attest to hip hop power to reach and teach”.

Youth of Choice Organization is a new dynamic youth movement of choice for nurturing young minds, driving social change and building future leaders. Registered as a non profit and anyone wish to support their good causes can contact Mr. Sbonelo Mashimane on 082 6786309 or email info@youthofchoice.org. The next show will be at the Winston Churchill Thearte on 6 November starting at 10 and all interested groups to wishing to participate must contact Cecil Khumalo on 078 7734513 before the closing date, 29 October.

HAVE YOUR SAY!!!

It's time to have your say...We're are now listening...Give us your feedback, inputs and comments on our organization. We need to measure our impact and your voice is very important to us moving forward. Have your say now and together we can do more...

Help us to improve and continue to serve our children and youth with better outreach projects, educational campaigns and support programmes. Email your feedback to info@youthofchoice.org.

Thank you for your continous support and we look forward hearing from you.

YOC TEAM
"We Drive Positive Social Change"

MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS SUMMIT

Can you believe it's already been 10 years since we heard about the Millennium Development Goals?

Here's the situation, in just a few days, heads of state from every country in the world will gather in New York City for the United Nations Summit on the Millennium Development Goals. 10 years ago, world leaders committed to an ambitious plan to cut global poverty in half by 2015. Now, with only five years left, it's time to assess how much progress we've made, and agree on a plan to finish the job in 2015.

We have the power to change what the leaders of all the world's governments discuss or decide only if we work together, we can do more. To make real progress on 2015 goals, the "Summit Outcome Document" must get it right this time to address the social issues affecting the poor around the world.

Now the question is, what can be done in the next few years to achieve some of the Millennium Development Goals?

YOC TEAM
"We Drive Positive Social Change"

YOC is a new dynamic youth movement of choice for driving positive social change.

UNITED AGAINST HUNGER

LET’S GIVE HOPE: United Against Hunger®

Why this Poverty Relief Campaign?

Poverty in our world today has reached epic proportions and the number of hungry people has passed the 1-billion mark. This means that one in six people – including the sick, the aged and children – go to bed desperately hungry every night. The current economic situation, combined with an increase in global food prices, severe drought and floods has had a devastating effect on the number of people who suffer from chronic and acute malnutrition.

What is Let’s Give Hope?

We think of hope as a good feeling and a desire to make a difference. As an organization hope is part of our values, dream for change and a dream for a better future. As part of our efforts to assist with global hunger alleviation, we have created our own campaign to raise money and make a real difference in the lives of ordinary South Africans by providing much needed poverty relief. Our LET’S GIVE HOPE campaign will run throughout the year but during the month of October which has been dedicated as poverty month, we will run a special drive to raise funds and feed the hungry focusing on areas in dire need food.

Our Vision

We envision a South Africa in which every child has access to the nourishment needed for an active and healthy lifestyle. We want to help the underprivileged, uplift disadvantaged communities and create a better future.

Our Purpose

We want to make a real difference in the lives of ordinary South Africans by providing the poverty relief they so desperately need. The Lets Give Hope Campaign is not a once off quick fix, but rather a long-term commitment that we as a organization have undertaken. We are dedicated to raising funds at every possible opportunity and making a sustainable difference in the lives of the underprivileged.

Lead for the campaign

First and foremost, there must be an honest need for hunger relief. While we accept that there are many worthy causes, we want to make a difference in an area that resonates within Msunduzi Municipality. As a community-based organisation we possess the expert understanding of the needs of local people; that's why we are dedicated to raising funds for our chosen cause and assist the local people with food requirement needs. We will interact with other civil society to engage with the communities by identifying an area that we can support urge local companies to partner with us.

People We May Support:

Underprivileged
Disabled
Abandoned
Abused
Orphaned
Homeless
Unemployed

Engagement for the campaign

Our culture is to drive broad scale social change for making a profound difference in our communities. The partner companies through their employees will also be expected to spend time feeding the poor. A staff volunteerism programme will linked to this campaign. We want to demonstrating that our partner companies have a huge heart and truly making a difference by not only giving money to good courses but also engage with those that are less fortunate.

YOUNG WOMEN OF CHOICE SEMINAR

Great turn out at the Young Women of Choice Seminar this past national women's day. About 45 girls from the dis-advantage communities took part in this powerful seminar and shared their daily hardships as young women growing up in todays society. A dynamic guest speaker delivered a very inspiring talk and encourage the girls to see themselves a valuable members of society. The young girls also took part group discussion focusing on topics affecting them as young women. Some girls in attendance were brave enough share their personal stories of abuse and challenges been thrown at them just because they are young women. The seminar was filled with fun and positive energy.

Later the girls were treated with some poetry and had time to miggle with other girls from the USA. The Youth of Choice Organization (YOC) gave each girl a tee shirt, folder with useful information and provided lunch for the girls. A big thank you to the YMCA which hosted the seminar and cor-ordinated the event.

The seminer ended on a very high note for the young girls now knowing their value and how much is it worth for being a young women of choice.