In one of our early dialogue session after returning from Washington, we were fortunate to meet Janine, one of South Africa’s soulful and inspirational singers.

Born on the Cape Flats, Janine has grown up being exposed to many challenges and has experienced many of them herself. Janine has been raised in an area that is filled with crime, gangsterism, and drug abuse. Lucky for her, she was born by principled and deeply loving parents, who strived to provide all they could for Janine and her brother.

From a very young age, Janine noticed all the wrong and the difficult circumstances that people in her community were living in. At the age of 12, she started to experience frustration as many people around her never seemed to understand her when she tried to explain the dire living conditions in her society. With a dream and vision of a better living environment, Janine then turned to poetry to try and tell the story of her community, her family and her own personal issues.

Because of a musical influence at home- parents liking blues music and her brother a hip hop lover, Janine soon started to express her thoughts about the challenges faced by the Cape Flats community through music. Being home trained and without any formal study of music, Janine began using music for social change and has joined and supported many local NGO’s, to encourage young people to have a positive attitude in life, and to express themselves in any art form they are passionate about.

Today, Janine’s stage name is Blaq Pearl. What makes this phenomenal musician special is how she has come to realize and has established her true identity as a Khoisan and not a coloured. This resulted in her shaving all her hair and dressing in authentic African wear.

Showing us her wisdom, during the dialogue session, Janine shared a story of how one is viewed a ‘better class’ when the person speaks English to the teller at her local supermarket; when one speaks Afrikaans (home language), they are viewed as ‘lower class’. Janine urged us not to look down on our culture and language, and to be proud of who we are and where we come from, no matter where we are. Janine Van Rooy is truly an phenomenal African woman and an inspiration for a

Every year, each SAWIP team member gets to live with a host family and this year I have been fortunate to be placed with a great family, the Cantrel’s. I still remember how excited I was meeting my host family for the first time at the airport when I arrived on the 14th of June; my excitement was also mixed with wonder of how the family is and if I will gel well with everyone. And I must say that now, not only have I gelled well but I truly feel part of the family. Frank, Anne, Madeleine, Joe and Katherine has welcomed me into their home and treated me like a son and brother. The one thing I have learnt staying with the Cantrel family in the past four weeks is that love and respect is important in building a family.