It's more than just a public holiday (16th June; Youth Day)

It has been 36years since the youth of South Africa marched in all parts of the country on a lonely journey for a better education, a transformed South Africa. Many of those who bravely took that journey did not live to see a free South Africa, but died as young as they were on their freedom march. Many others were imprisoned because of their efforts. On this day, we as the BCSA youth salute them, the children of 1976, who gave their lives so that we and future generations of South Africans could free ourselves from the yoke of apartheid, establish a new democratic order and live together in peace and harmony. The fruits of their journey is our democracy. For the youth of our country, together with the workers, the women, the religious leaders in all the various organizations of our people, played their part in our national liberation struggle. But democracy is only the beginning of a new journey that the South African youth, the South African people must take towards a common destiny. The critical question, however, is what are the challenges that our youth face today. Do we all have a common understanding and vision of the struggles into which the energies of the youth need to be channelled? Today, the struggle continues, but the enemy has changed. The enemy now is homelessness, hunger, poverty, in the many forms that they manifest themselves. It is this struggle that should now challenge the youth, in all their formations, to wake up in the morning and begin every single day with more determination than ever before to make a mark in this new struggle. Indeed, this is the historic challenge that faces us today. It is a challenge that we dare not fail in meeting. It is a site of struggle wherein the youth should take their rightful place. None dare challenge the youth when they dig trenches, as indeed they should, in the frontline of this crusade against hunger and poverty! For it is this battle that will take us to the destination of sustained development and prosperity for our people. In practical ways, the youth of our country must seek to develop themselves so as to work in more effective and efficient ways towards a new reality. This can be achieved through youth empowerment, through programmes such as the contact, information and career counselling programme of the NYDA Fund which is aimed at providing information and support regarding careers; The skills development of youth continues to be a priority and part of the battle that needs to be fought for the full attainment of our freedom We call upon our BCSA youth in all their formations across the country to conscientise themselves about these developments and to play a catalytic role in ensuring that they access these programmes for their communities. When we call on our BCSA youth to be fully part of lMPACTING LIVES vision and to lend a hand and volunteer their services for collective developments, we are saying that they themselves are among the most important agents of change. Our BCSA youth must be conscious participants in community programmes, in caring for the aged and disabled, for those who are suffering from HIV/AIDS and other diseases. Community youth service is also important because it is through these selfless deeds, that our youth attain technical expertise and life skills, while at the same time, they are developing their communities. Our BCSA youth must be among those who offer their services to government departments to perform volunteer work. This is a call to battle! A call to join forces as the BCSA youth in a new struggle towards attaining our developmental goals and arriving at a common destination. Clearly, this destination must mean an end to homelessness, an end to poverty, an end to disease, to unemployment, to hardship and suffering. The endpoint of our journey must be the economic recovery of our country and our continent, successful social reconstruction, effective moral regeneration and a flowering of our languages and our culture. Out of these processes must unfold a new identity of what it means to be Baptist, what it means to be a South African youth in the context of the world. It is to reach this common destination that we are waging this war against poverty and lending a hand in IMPACTING LIVES. We do this so that the youth, the women, the families of our country may benefit by having housing, clean water, electricity, food to eat, a bed in which to sleep, to contribute to the greater, collective good of all our people, both young and old. We are transforming this country into something better, providing the necessary policies for change, implementing action plans so that the youth of our country will be able not only to dream at night about a better future but also use knowledge, skills, infrastructure and resources to make that dream of a better life a real and living reality. The BCSA youth ought to be at the vanguard of the popular movement towards South Africa's renewal and demonstrate their commitment in education, in health, in addressing unemployment and in skills development. When we call on our youth to study hard at school, we are saying to them that as we strive to make our country a better place for all who live in it, so too must you prepare now in all your efforts to take over the leadership from us some day and do even more than we are doing now to modernize our economy, to build our society, to make us equal competitors in the global information age. As we honour our youth who braved the streets in 1976, we think also of all those who died at the prime of their lives at the hands of apartheid killers because of their determination and participation in the struggle. On the night before his murder by the apartheid hangman, a young and brave Solomon Mahlangu comforted his mother and the nation with the words; "Do not cry for me, for my blood will nourish the tree that will bear the fruits of our freedom". For Solomon Mahlangu, for Hector Petersen, for Steve Biko, for Dulcie September, for all our departed heroes and heroines, the BCSA youth and the youth of our country at large must answer the call to take forward the gains of our democracy and to help us to attain our vision of IMPACTING LIVES. For the sake of our communities, our country and our continent, this call must spread far and wide from here in CBYD and SGBYD, to ECYD, to NCYD, to MYD and to NWYD. Let us together lend a hand to broaden access to IMPACT LIVES. Forward to the new struggle of the youth! Nkosinathi Mothibi Baptist Convention of South Africa Youth Department President