October 8, 2004
By Bafana Nzimande
PAINTED a vibrant purple and green, one of a few brick buildings in Orange Farm - the Lovelife youth centre - stands out from the zinc shacks surrounding it and speaks worlds of the creative buzz inside.
According to many youngsters like Thandekile Maseko, it's the place to hang out on the weekends.
The Orange Farm Youth Centre provides free skills development programmes, sex education workshops and recreational facilities to the young people of the desperately poor township some 60km south of the Johannesburg CBD.
"I regularly come here on Saturdays to attend free computer classes," said 22-year-old Maseko.
Established by Lovelife, a national body set up to run HIV/Aids-prevention programmes for young people, the youth centre aims to encourage a healthy lifestyle.
Outdoors there are basketball and volleyball courts, while in the centre there are computer facilities, a hall for dance classes and a state-of-the-art radio station studio.
It also has flushing toilets, taps and changing rooms, unlike its neighbouring shacks.
Run by 25 local residents with more than 200 active members, it attracts about 100 youngsters daily, who come here to escape from the challenges of their daily lives, says Ludwe Mqwathi of the centre's sports, and recreation department.
"I obtained my radio broadcast training here for free," says 18-year-old Sammy Cindi, the resident radio presenter.
"What brings me to this centre every day is the basketball court. I love basketball," says Thulani Kunene, the coach of the centre's senior basketball team.
Behind the basketball goal poles is a rich array of graffiti, testimony to the talented artists in the community.
And the parents of the youngsters are very supportive of the programmes being run at the centre, says Mqwathi.
The centre also visits local schools regularly to recruit new members, he added.
For more information about the Orange Farm Youth Centre, call
011 850 3970.
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