MylifE is a registered foundation working with at‐risk youth and children in Cape Town, South Africa ‐ those living on the street without hope or support. MylifE’S team has worked within this sector for more than 12 years, gathering vital information on the social dynamics that drive these issues. MylifE was established in 2002, and since its inception has successfully healed over 105 youth, moving them from the city’s pavements into full‐time jobs, independence and a ‘normal’ life. It has given hope where there was none.
Current Conditions in Cape Town
The majority of children and youth who move into the streets do so because of appalling and often abusive living conditions within their communities and within their homes. Their choice is driven by the desire to escape from a life that is painful and intolerable, a life that is devoid of love, nurturing, role models, dignity and hope. They turn to risk activities as the most promising alternative to their situation.
Stereotyping and neglect forces the youth to the periphery of society, where they are alienated and misunderstood. Too many lives are destroyed through incarceration or death, very few are rehabilitated or healed. With only more of the same chaos and hopelessness as daily influences, children and youth are drawn into a Cycle of Destruction, which results from a desperate need for survival, leading to violence, abuse, rape, prostitution, drugs, disease, murder, gangsterism and crime, all of which affect development into adulthood and, absent of intervention, perpetuate the cycle .
The disjointed nature of rehabilitation projects in Cape Town critically limits their impact. While NGO and Government programs are marginally effective, their narrow scope and disunity means that, on completion, the youth simply return to the same activities and back into the cycle of destruction they tried to escape.
Latest Social Development figures show that more than 50 per cent of those in substance abuse treatment centres in the Western Cape are under 20 years old, and have methamphetamine (tik) as their primary drug of choice. Across South Africa, some 42 per cent of the prison population is under 25 years of age. These are just some of the statistics MylifE aims to change.
MylifE has seen more than 100 youth pass through its doors in the past four years. Essentially we have built a "village" in a town environment, the successes that have been achieved can truly be seen as miracles. No other organisation can demonstrate success at this level, working with hardened youth in the age bracket of 17 to 25.
The Pay‐it‐Forward concept is already working, as is our Train‐the‐Trainer belief. Now MylifE wishes to move the core of its activities to a rural environment, reaching out to larger groups of youth, while still maintaining its Cape Town centre for Phase 1 Intervention - the first part of the healing process. Let our youth speak for themselves to tell you how MylifE has changed their lives forever as they are the MylifE Foundation.