Question 1: Tell us a bit about you, your NGO and what you do?
I am Gregory Keal,
a normal 18-year-old boy that has had enough of the inequality, lack of
provision of services and the many violations of the basic human rights
promised to us by the Bill of Rights in our constitution. This led me and a
friend, Tannagh Pfotenhauer, who shared the same views to start our youth movement
"RiseUp" which aims to unite the youth of South Africa and to get
them to collectively protest and petition against human rights violations in
South Africa and to get involved in community work in order to set the example
and to show that we are doing our part in shaping a better South Africa.
Question 2: What
3 words best describe your NGO?
Dynamic, Caring and non-judgmental.
Question 3: How long has your NGO been running for?
Although we were
only officially registered on the 13 December 2013, we have been running our
projects, protests and cementing all our documentation since February 2013 -
launching our website, Facebook page and Twitter handle in May 2013.
Question 4: What
motivated you to start this project?
As I said above,
seeing the inequality, lack of provision of services and the many
violations of the basic human rights motivated us to be the change we want to
see in South Africa - rather than relying on the older generation that seemed
to be doing very little to make changes. We wanted to show that collectively
the youth have got power and can change the way our citizens are treated.
Question 5: What
do you consider your NGO’s greatest strength to be?
I think our greatest strength is our power in
numbers, and the enthusiasm and willingness of the youth in order to create a
better South Africa.
Question 6: How
does one get involved?
Anyone under the age of 25 (including you) can join
as a member - which just means that you will receive our weekly/monthly email
and be notified about any events that we are having. You are able to decide
whether you want to get involved or not.
If you would like to volunteer for RiseUp on either a
temporary basis in your area (help with community projects) or if you would
like to have a permanent position - which would require between 3 - 5 hours
work per week - then you can go onto our website and see what positions are
available and you can email greg.riseup@gmail.com for further information. The
positions are completely flexible - allowing the volunteers to work any 3/5
hours in the week - but they must send a summary of what they did in each of
the hours every week.
People could also get involved in providing funding,
which is desperately needed to continue our work. People can donate any amount
and even specify which project the money must go to. We have a write-up of every
project we do and what is required in terms of funding and physical assets.
Question 7: Apart
from your NGO, what else are you passionate about?
Yoh, this is a very difficult question to answer
without being linked to any "group of people".
I am passionate about the community, and helping
wherever I can. I am passionate about God and learning more about him
and the ways to experience him. I am passionate about traveling and seeing the world
as much as I can, especially the places that aren't common destinations, places
that change what I believe and places that are not like my home country. I am passionate about people, learning from them and
getting to know people from all walks of life.
On a different note, I'm also pretty passionate about
cars - different models and prices and I love a good car-selling magazine. And
I love property, a passion I share with my dad.
Question 8: Want
to inspire us with any last words?
Our biggest inspiration through the whole process
(even when, at times, it seemed impossible to start an NPO at age 17) has been
"Be the change you want to see in the world" - Mahatma Gandhi
Question 9: Where can we find more info about Rise Up?
PS - Greg has just been nominated by LeadSA and the Sunday Tribune as one of the candidates for LeadSA Hero, after being hero of the week a couple weeks back!!! To vote for Greg, please email tribuneleadsa@inl.co.za with "LeadSA Youth hero for December" as the subject, and "Greg Keal" in the body of the email.
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