Leandra's Blog (30)

Human trafficking: girls for prostitution

PAGE ONE

Panel A:…

The Official Evoke Manifesto:

The goals of the network are simply to provide a platform where people can help one another solve the world’s problems through the act of sharing information with one another. It also serves as a support base for all people…

The future of Evoke – an interview with an Evoke agent:

Which great challenges and social problems should the Evoke network tackle next?

I would like to see issues such as human…

The secret which I think is most important relates to how people can be expected to react in a pandemic situation. According to epidemiologist Sandro Galea, there are five stages of reaction to a disaster:

1) Self-preservation - people are afraid and seek information in order to help themselves first

2) Group preservation - once people have the information they seek to help others

3) Blame setting - people's emotional responses leads them to figure out who is to blame…

The indigenous knowledge that I would pass on is that of shifting cultivation. This is because it is important that we conserve our land. My father is a cattle farmer and he practices agriculture in this way. He understands the importance of allowing ones land to rest for a few months after it has been grazed by animals. Shifting cultivation is the practice where land is never over used or repeatedly cultivated season after season and year after year. (…

12 October 2087

Dear Diary

Today I turned 100 years old. Who would have thought that I would make it this far. 100 and at least I can still walk on my own, feed myself, clothe myself, and take care of myself.... albeit it in slow motion. I'm still alive!

I cannot help but think back to when I was still 22 and playing the Evoke game. How young I was, how naive, how optimistic. I had great dreams for the future. Not only for myself, but for the…

The Barefoot College is a non-governmental organisation which was established in 1972 in India. The need for this institution arose out of the many problems in rural communities and their lack of basic services. (Barefoot College website). The objective of this college is to make use of the indigenous knowledge and skills of…

(Im not very good at editing maps!)

Setting the Scene: it is April 2020, and the city of Port Elizabeth (PE) is on its way to becoming South Africa’s most resilient city. The residents…

Port Elizabeth (PE) falls within the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality (NMBM). This municipality serves smaller surrounding areas as well, but PE makes up most of NMBM. It took some investigating before I found a website dedicated to the issue of PE’s resilience plans. The magic search words ended up being “disaster…

Port Elizabeth (PE), a city situated in the Eastern Cape in South Africa, is one of the select few cities, who will be hosting some of the football games in the Fifa Soccer World Cup in June this year. A new stadium has been built to host this event, which has undeniably become something PE can boast about. There is no doubt that PE…

It is the year 2020, and Sudan, a country once turmoiled with violence, is finally at peace. But most importantly, the women of Sudan have finally won their fight for equal rights and economic opportunities, all thanks to an initiative which was started a little over ten years ago. This initiative began with the aim of educating 2000 women of their rights and teaching them literacy skills. However, due to an evoke, the word about this initiative was spread. It all began with a…

The cause which I have chosen to support and to spread the awareness of is that of providing 2000 Sudanese women with rights education. This cause aims to make Sudanese women aware of their rights and to provide them with literacy training. Once these women have been educated, they can take the next…

All the stories provided on the womenwatch website are inspirational, and I support all of them! Being a woman, the issue of women empowerment is very close to my heart. My dream is that all women all over the world be given equal opportunities in their countries. I know that South Africa is not yet perfect when it comes to the empowerment of women, but I know that we as a country are making progress, albeit it slow and painful. It is my hope to see equal rights for male and females in South…

Putting the 'Market' into Market Square!

1 April 2020 Leandra

Market Square, Grahamstown - The area surrounding the Cathedral, known to locals as Market Square, has officially been allocated to the local community for the use as a local market. This has resulted in the two roads on either side of the triangle being closed off to cars and opened up to pedestrians…

An idea which I think will not only change the future use of money but also the world is that of the favour bank. Basically, the favour bank makes use of a currency of favours. So if you need a favour you go to the favour bank and pick up a contact who can help you with that favour. However, you need to leave your own contact details at the bank specifying what your expertise/interests are, in order to return a favour to someone else. This encourages more collaboration between people from…

A marathon of marathons: swimming for water!

It is the year 2020, and in designated countries around the world, crowds of people are gathered around swimming pools. This is because a marathon of swimming marathons is about to begin. And the aim of these marathons? Well the people taking part are swimming for water of course!

The idea here is that just as people cannot swim if there is no water, people cannot survive if there is no water. The aim of these…

The Water Project is a non-profit organisation whose purpose is to provide relief to those communities all over the world who do not have access to clean water. The Water Project does this by providing the technical assistance and supplies needed in order to help these communities build wells, small dams, rain catchment systems and/or water filters. In order to do this, the Water Project calls out to people such as you and me in order to make a donation. The Water Project then shows us how…

I discovered an innovative way of cleaning water that relies on the use of solar power. So not only does this innovation clean water but it also makes use of a sustainable source of energy.

The Naiade Water Purifier is an easy-to-install water purifier based on UV treatment. It cleans and purifies water through the use of solar power. It kills all pathogens and makes drinking water safe without the use of chemicals. This system is reliable and inexpensive and can provide safe…