May 2008
Creating The Dream
An immediate and natural reaction to the incredible poverty in the townships of South Africa is to look for ways to meet the basic survival needs of people there. When those fortunate enough to have work (a small minority) bring home little more than US $10 after a full day and a long commute, and manage to feed an entire family on that, the pressing material needs are obvious. ... Read on ...
April 2008
Lookout Hill Performance
Shortly before leaving South Africa to return to Europe and the USA, we were delighted by a special musical and drama performance by members of various groups from Youth for Change.
The Lookout Hill Visitor Centre in Khayelitsha resonated to the beautiful voices of youth choirs from Philippi, Khayelitsha and Kuyasa, and we were also delighted by well prepared dance and drama performances. ... Read on ...
February 2008
Golden Dreams
Golden Sonwabo is a wonderful example of the radiance that can be found amongst those living in the South African townships despite so little material wealth in their lives. He and his wife Phumla and their five daughters came from the town of Tsomo in the east
of South Africa seeking a new life near the city of Cape Town. They found themselves living in a shack in the sprawling shanty-town of Khayelitsha. Work was scarce and they were often hungry ... Read on ...
December 2007
Return to South Africa
The apparent paradox (for us) of a hot midsummer New Year in South Africa serves to remind us how vast and varied life is on our beautiful planet. We look back with deep gratitude on a full year of rich contrasts, and in particular at the last few weeks since returning to South Africa at the beginning of November for another extended stay. Our Releasing work has continued with old friends from our previous trips, and many exciting new connections ... Read on ...
May 2007
I Release and I Let Go ...
As we look back on the last six months in South Africa and say "goodbye for now" to the many new friends we have made, what is most striking is not just the quantity of people we have touched with the Releasing work, nor even their diversity, it is the profound shift that particular individuals have made in their lives. Invited behind the thin walls of the shacks and townships into the lives of youth and adults alike, we have found humanity in places where a year ago we would have been afraid to even look. ... Read on ...
April 2007
Releasing in Cradock, Eastern Cape
The "Cradock Four" epitomise the struggle and the suffering of apartheid times in South Africa. In 1985, Matthew Goniwe, headmaster and community leader, together with his friend and colleague Fort Calata, Sparrow Mkonto and Sicelo Mhlauli were brutally murdered by the apartheid security police. The truth about what happened was buried for more than ten years and only revealed as a result of the TRC. The healing continues today and we were invited to give a week-long Releasing workshop as part of his widow Nyame Goniwe's community healing project. ... Read on ...
February 2007
Restorative vs Retributive Justice
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) brought the power of "Restorative Justice" versus punitive or retributive justice to the attention of the world. As we work more and more with the members of Youth for Change in Khayelitsha, we see again and again the miracle of these same principles being applied on a far less public scale. The leadership of Youth for Change apply their belief in the basic human value of even the worst juvenile offenders, many of whom have returned to formal education and even become leaders and examples for others. The relative lack of formal legal processes in the overpopulated townships paradoxically facilitates this work ... Read on ...
December 2006
Releasing in Khayelitsha Township
Stephen Marcus & Barbara Kroll
Our Lindwall Releasing activities with the Youth for Change group in Khayelitsha Township, Cape Town, have been unfolding rapidly thanks to their motivated and energetic organizers, and also to the enthusiasm of their students. It is hard to imagine that only a few months ago these bright young people were gang members, drug abusers, violent criminals or petty thieves on the streets of Khayelitsha. ... Read on ...
August 2006
A Report on the Lindwall Outreach Program in South Africa
During the February-March 2006 South African Releasing tour with Isa and Yolanda, we began to make contact with people involved in the Forgiveness and Reconciliation work that began at the end of the apartheid regime in 1994. We were so moved by these connections that we were guided to return immediately. ... Read on ...
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For more information on the Lindwall Foundation Outreach Program in South Africa,
please contact Stephen Marcus, marcus@onearth.net,
or Barbara Kroll, releasing@barbarakroll.de
For Donation information click here
Click on the links or watch these movies directly in the player window below the list:
(note that due to a current bug in YouTube, the player window below the list of titles may not always correctly show the movies from Lindwall Foundation and sometimes displays other content)
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Releasing in Cradock, Part 1 - Lindwall Releasing workshops in the South African town of Cradock in 2007 and 2008. The black township is still recovering from the brutal murder of their community leaders by the apartheid security forces in 1985. |
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Releasing in Cradock, Part 2 - Nomonde Calata, widow of Fort Calata who was murdered in 1985, talks about her experience with Lindwall Releasing and the benefits ot has for the community in the black township in Cradock, South Africa. |
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Ubuntu and Youth for Change - Mandisi Njoli and Zwelitsha "Commander Zet" Mhluthwa, founders of the Youth for Change organization in the sprawling township of Khayelitsha, South Africa, talk about bringing gang youth back from the streets and about the traditional South African principle of Ubuntu. |
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Documentary: Youth for Change - Khayelitsha - Youth for Change is a project in the Township of Khayelitsha, near Cape Town, South Africa, bringing ex-gang youth off the streets and back to school and into society. |
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Zet talks about Releasing - Zwelitsha "Commander Zet" Mhluthwa, founder of the Youth for Change organization in the sprawling township of Khayelitsha, South Africa shows Stephen Marcus his home and talks about the transforming effect that Lindwall Releasing has had in his life and the lives of the youth of "Youth for Change". Background: Zwelitsha Mhluthwa was a General Commander of underground Freedom Fighters in the Cape Town area during the apartheid era. In 1992 another group of freedom fighters was misinformed that he was a traitor. A midnight attack intended to kill Zet resulted in the death of his mother. Zet's reprisals against those he believed were true informers put him in jail for ten years. Emerging to freedom in a new South Africa in 2002, he was horrified to find more poverty, crime and violence in the townships, particularly amongst the youth, than under the apartheid government he had fought against. This led him to found "Youth for Change" to assist young people in leaving a life of crime and becoming the leaders of tomorrow. |
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Khayelitsha Township Releasing Workshop - Video taken during the first Lindwall Releasing workshop given by Stephen Marcus and Barbara Kroll to Youth for Change in the township of Khayelitsha, South Africa. Youth for Change was founded by former freedom fighters from the apartheid times to invite gang and at-risk youth on the streets of the township to give up a life of drugs, crime and violence to become the leaders of tomorrow. |
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Nomabelu Sopili - Social worker Nomabelu Sopili, who lives in Kuyasa, a southern suburb of the township of Khayelitsha, talks after her second Lindwall Releasing session. |
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Zithobile - former gangster now helps youth with Releasing - Zithobile, now 25 years old, was once a notorious gangster in the Cape Town township of Khayelitsha, selling drugs to youngsters. After serving 3 years in jail, he joined Youth for Change and learned Releasing as part of the Lindwall Foundation Outreach Program. He returned to school and recently completed his high school diploma ("Matric" in South Africa). He tells his story in this video, with comments from the leaders of Youth for Change. |