SA Rocks

Ella Bella Constantinides recently represented South Africa at the United Nations Environmental Programme in Kigali Rwanda. Rwanda was the official world host for World Enviro Day 2010.

The campaign which is being rolled out stands for “African Youth Standing Up for Bio Diversity” and the International celebrations of “World Environmental Day.” Her opening presentation was received with great excitement and she was requested to present at the UN Biodiversity conference that took place this week. The celebrations in Rwanda involved several workshops and culminated in a gorilla-naming ceremony in the Volcanoes National Park.

Constantinides addressed the International forum by calling for the International sports community “…to be eco-conscious as we celebrate the greatest sporting event on earth,” she went on to say, “It is our responsibility as global residents of this earth to be cognisant of the carbon footprint that we leave behind, long after the hype, excitement and sports stars go home. The FIFA 2010 Soccer World Cup highlights South Africa and our continent and it is our duty to tread lightly as we enjoy the splendours of our natural heritage and biodiversity, thus ensuring that we leave a green legacy behind.”

Back home in Johannesburg, Constantinides, heads up the educational programme for the Miss Earth South Africa in association with Consol, the key objective being to empower women and educate children across South Africa, and where the programme allows, across the borders into Africa. The vision is to enable young people from all over the region of Africa to take part in giving a human face to environmental issues and to enable citizens to realize that not only is it their responsibility, but it is also in their power to become agents for change in support of sustainable and equitable development. This year’s World Environment Day is aimed to be the biggest, most widely celebrated, global day for positive, environmental action.

Commemorated since 1972, WED is one of the principal vehicles through which the UN stimulates worldwide awareness of the environment and encourages political attention and action. Through WED, UNEP calls for advocating partnerships among all stakeholders or perhaps, even more correctly, among all species living on this one planet and sharing a common future.

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The video below was originally distributed via email in powerpoint format (or at least that’s how I received it first).

I received this email about 10 times in the space of 3 days. Impressive by any viral email standards I think. If you haven’t seen the video yet, watch it. It’s not half bad and definitely sums up the way forward fairly well for this world cup.

Now, here’s the story behind the email as told by HomeComingRevolution:

After Bafana Bafana’s exit at the first round of the 2010 Soccer World Cup and the support that they had received from South African citizens, Rebecca Sehloho wrote a poem. The poem captured the importance of being fantastic hosts which goes beyond the soccer and
deeper into what the tournament is about.

Rebecca and her colleague Anthony Prangley harmonised their proudly South African voices with memorable images to inspire the nation to look at all the positive that has resulted from the World Cup. They saw the need to remind South Africans that it does not matter if Bafana Bafana didn’t win. It’s much bigger than that – South Africa has won!

Martine Schaffer, Managing Director of Homecoming Revolution said: “Anthony sent it to us on the morning after Bafana Bafana were eliminated. We realised the potential of this viral message and the stronger uniting message that it had for South Africans. A few emails were sent out and within the space of an hour, we were receiving it back into our inbox. The creators had no idea of how quickly this message would spread and we are thrilled that they chose to associate it with the Homecoming Revolution. As a nation we are seeing a growth in our identity with our soccer team, our country and our amazing achievements in hosting this World Cup. This is also stirring up heart-sore emotions amongst our South African Diaspora. We have so much to celebrate and this succinct, emotional, visual message sums
up how we are feeling. Proud.”

Let’s keep it going. The World Cup is about being friendly hosts and fantastic fans of all the teams. Each of us can do something. This is our chance.

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I’m not talking about the Linux operating system when I speak of Ubuntu. I am talking of the great African concept that we are intertwined, that we are not islands and that I am my brothers and sisters in Africa and they are part of me.

This is what Shari Cohen over at the Huffington Post has been left with on her travels through South Africa. Her article is an incredibly positive one written by a self-proclaimed cynic and it’s good to read. It’s good to see that I’m not a mad man and that many, many other people across the world are realising that South Africa in fact does rock, hard!

Here’s a snippet:

I have been truly humbled on this trip. And while I have my gripes regarding development here, I cannot say one negative thing about how South Africa has handled its duties as host and hostess to the world. If I could say one thing to sum up being here during this once-in-a-lifetime experience, it would be that I’ve learned the value of Ubuntu, and that when found and offered in abundance, the world is indeed a better place to live in.

So, if South Africa accomplishes nothing more on the playing field, it will still have won as a host country. I am a cynic, no doubt about that. And yet I have to admit, I’m a little teary just writing this because I leave for home next weekend and I will be leaving a little piece of myself here in South Africa. I just hope I have learned enough to bring back a little piece of Ubuntu to my homeland, where perhaps with a little caring and a little water, it will take root as naturally as it does here, in the cradle of civilization. It’s funny, many people in America still ask me, “are the people in Africa very primitive?” Yes, I know, amazing someone could ask that but they do. And when they do, I usually explain that living in a mud hut does not make one primitive, however, allowing kids to sell drugs to other kids and engage in drive-by killings — isn’t that primitive behavior? I think it is. When I think of Ubuntu and my recent experiences here, I think America has much to learn from Africa in general, in terms of living as a larger village; and as human beings who are all interconnected with each other, each of us having an affect on our brothers and sisters.

Be sure to head over to Huffington Post and read the full article now!

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Yes, Bafana Bafana is out of the Fifa 2010 World Cup. Yes we are the only host nation in the history of the World Cup to not make it through to the 2nd round of the tournament but it just isn’t that simple now is it? Bafana blew out of the tournament bit did not crash and burn as they did this, they climbed the ranks of football in a rising fireball.

My friend Prudence sums it up perfectly:

Yes, let’s just run through that again shall we; Bafana did not qualify for this World Cup and competed on the basis that we were the hosts. We are ranked 83rd in the World right now. We drew with Mexico, ranked 17th. We lost to Uruguay who are ranked 16th and we beat, yes that is correct, we beat the French who are World Cup winners and currently ranked 9th in the world.

I am extremely proud of Bafana Bafana and must say that they played world class football yesterday against the French. The deserved a win and proved that they can compete with the best in the world and come out on top. I also believe that Frances internal politics cannot be an excuse for the French. They are a world class team with world class players and should be able to rise above their own rubbish and win. Their fans must be bitterly dissapointed and they owe their fans an apology.

I’ll still be pulling for the African teams along the way and hope that a few of them manage to make it through and give us Africans something to cheer for.

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I don’t blog often enough about incredible organisations doing great work in South Africa. Africa Health Placements is one of these places, doing great work in the medical arena of South Africa.

So here’s a short about what they do:

Africa Health Placements is an organisation with a mission: to support and enhance healthcare systems in Africa, by finding, placing and retaining the right people for the job. Our aim is to fill the gaps left by the exodus of doctors from public service, and ultimately to help people to view the public sector in a new light – as truly viable and exciting career options. We do this by following a businesslike approach, focused on efficient service and effective marketing. We also strive to work with the people we recruit, every step of the way, to ensure that everything happens as smoothly and pleasantly as possible.

Now the news here is that Africa Health Placements (AHP) is not only doing great work where SA needs it (finding doctors and placing them in local areas that need the resources) but has also launched a great looking new website, a twitter account and a Facebook Fanpage.

I’m incredibly impressed with the team behind this organisations new website and social media approach. I believe there is great value in getting organisations such as AHP on to Twitter, Facebook and other online resources that can help and assist them in doing the work they need to do.

Here’s a little sneak peak of their website but for the full view head over to www.ahp.org.za

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The Bara taxi rank was host to a fairly large flashmob of about 2000 people recently. Have a look see:

Well done to Amstel for finally making use of a great marketing tool in a high-traffic area in Johannesburg.

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Great little video for a bit of fun:

[via MatVisser]

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Bafana Bafana might have lost last night to Uruguay in a 3 – 0 thrashing (let’s be realistic about it).

Here are some of my thoughts on the game:

Bafana never really turned up on the night. They were slow, they never moved forward and they refuse to use their wide-open wings to push the midfield forward. But hey, that’s just my thoughts. We didn’t deserve to win that game and we made Uruguay look good.

The referee – is, well, a referee and this is soccer, this is the beautiful game and there is always going to be a controversy for one team or another. This time it happens to be our team and it sucks. Most of all it sucks for our incredible goalkeeper, Itumeleng Khune who in no way deserves the punishment he is going through. Khune played out of his boots against Mexico and Uruguay and really got a raw deal. However, let me say this as clearly as possible; The referee had nothing to do with South Africa losing to Uruguay. You need to score goals to win a soccer match and you can’t score goals from your own half for 90 minutes. We lost because we didn’t play well.

Uruguay played South Africa in to a corner. They were driven, they pushed forward, they made space (which SA gave them) and they took shots on goal. They also scored the first goal which is imperative for a mental advantage. South Africa’s lack of international experience on a major scale showed here, we were a goal down and we couldn’t get our heads out of that framework. We beat ourselves after that first goal.

Plus, Forlan is brilliant. Enough said there.

But let me follow all of this criticism up with the following:

Bafana Bafana make me proud. I cannot even begin to fathom the weight that those players feel on their shoulders; host nation, one of the lowest ranked teams in the World Cup this year, they have records to maintain (such as trying not to be the first host nation not to make it past the first stage of a World Cup) and they have their pride above all. I do not envy their position. When they win they are our heroes and when they lose fans leave the stadium early.

ASIDE – the fans at Loftus who left the stadium early; I am hoping they left to avoid traffic and if Bafana were winning they would have left anyways at that time (a bit of a dream, but still). I was honestly insulted by their lack of respect for a team that is playing their hearts out for the nation. Disgusting.

Now on to South Africa and how we can still win. It’s simple: Be great hosts, don’t be bitter losers and make this World Cup one to remember for every single individual who has traveled to our beautiful nation.

We have still gained so much by hosting the Fifa World Cup 2010. Whether or not Bafana goes through to the next round they have done us proud by simply competing at a level that no one had previously even expected. We drew to Mexico who sit at #17 on the FIFA world rankings. Bafana sit at 83rd on the rankings, so let’s be realistic (yes this is me being realistic) about the outcomes of this World Cup for Bafana; we were probably never going to win it. Ever. Participating at the top level of global football is an achievement that we were only granted as the hosts of this World Cup. Our boys are doing us proud and we should hold our heads high.

There is more football to be played. There are more games to be watched and there many other African nations and underdogs that we can put our weight behind. I’m personally routing for the Ivory Coast to pull in some magic and get through to the next round and I’m hoping that Cameroon can pull together and show the world their class.

Bring on the next 20 or so days left of the biggest sporting event in the world. It’s going to be a blast that we will probably never in our lifetimes see again in South Africa. So let’s make it worth our while and enjoy it.

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It is no small miracle that we as a nation now host the 2010 Fifa Football World Cup.

Tomorrow is Youth Day, June 16th. Here’s a fantastic little video put together by Good Hope FM in remembrance of June 16th.

Are you going to wear your old-school tie?

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South Africa and Africa in general is a booming mobile market. One problem that many people seem to be having is crossing over from prepaid to contract. It’s quite a cumbersome process that frustrates many.

With the mobile market growing at the rapid pace that it is in the developing world there need to be more solutions popping up. I was alerted to one such solution that I think illustrates that market is not only growing in size but in competitiveness too.

Flexicell‘s primary business is to convert prepaid product users to month-to-month contract. They do this in a slightly different way though; by deducting a set amount from your bank account and loading it in to your cell account as airtime month to month. It’s a contract, but month to month. They basically get rid of the long term 24 month tie-in vibe. You simply give them a one month notice period to end your contract and it’s over. Simple and effective apparently.

Apparently the airtime purchasing price on their month to month “contract” is significantly cheaper than prepaid airtime. Which makes it somewhat interesting as a proposition too.

If you’ve given Flexicell a try let me know how it goes.

Good to see local companies innovating in the more steadfast markets.

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