When I was a “Guiri”
*Guiri is an informal Spanish slur used in Spain applied to foreign tourists, particularly from Great Britain, but can be applied to other Northern European countries.
 

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ENDS   
    
About: Save the Children believes every child deserves a future. In South Africa and around the world, we give children a healthy start in life, the…

South Africa is currently experiencing extreme public violence, and everyone is trying to make sense of this. Some blame the jailing of our former President, Jacob Zuma. Others point to Covid-19 lockdown restrictions that have exacerbated high unemployment and food insecurity. Still others bemoan a lack of law and order.
But we should be asking ‘what does all of this mean for children, and the future of our country?’

In the past few months there has been a recurrence of protests across South Africa’s universities over free education. We see the headlines; we hear the voices on the news.  I am in no way diminishing the importance of this topic but I do want to draw our attention to those that are unseen and unheard. Those who do not get to protest.  Those who are not eligible for university entry because they got lost from the education system along the way. 
 

Although the right to birth registration is entrenched in the constitution of South Africa, it is estimated that each year about 100 000 children are not registered at birth in South Africa and 86% of undocumented children in our education system are South African. Without a birth certificate, most schools turn these children away. 
 

Save the Children South Africa (SCSA) recently launched the Advisory Board. A panel of highly-influential individuals set on making a difference for children in South Africa by using their connections, voices and positions to do so. We are excited about the opportunities this new venture will bring us all and how it will shape the way we work with each other and our partners on the ground. 
 

Click here to download positive affirmations to be included in lunchbags/boxes for school-going children. 

Thanks to the unwavering support of many of our partners over the past year, Save the Children South Africa implemented a successful “children in emergencies” project starting March 2020. We led a national advocacy call for the inclusion of migrant and undocumented children and their families in the national emergency response plan which contributed to governments’ decision to remove all exclusionary requirements for aid, such as South African ID documents.