Forest Whitaker's peace ambassadors

Actor and UNESCO Special Envoy for Peace and Reconciliation, Forest Whitaker’s WPDI Youth Peacemaker Network programme is empowering Cape Flats youngsters to become agents of change and peace in their communities.

- LUNGISA MNQWAZI & ALICIA ENGLISH

Nelson Mandela once said: “No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite”.

Decades after apartheid, many young people living on the Cape Flats have either lost their lives, live in fear of falling victim to crime, or are themselves perpetrators of gangsterism and crime. More significantly, there are many more youths who are outstanding role models and aspire to achieve great things and uplift their peers and communities.

In November 2019, American actor Forest Whitaker visited Bridgetown where 45 such young people are being trained as social development ambassadors as part of the Whitaker Peace & Development Initiative (WPDI). The training programme launched in August 2019, empowers the youth to mediate conflicts, foster peace and work towards a peaceful resolution to the violence on the Cape Flats. The area has been locked in cycles of poverty and violence inherited from apartheid. Young people in particular face such high levels of unemployment, that many often have no choice but to join a gang as child soldiers for economic gain and social status.