South Africa is home to some pretty impressive young people, but Ayakha Melithafa, a 17-year-old climate justice activist from Eerste Rivier in the Western Cape, really stands out.

She started campaigning against climate change two years ago, when her family, then based in Khayelitsha, was severely affected by the water shortage that hit the Cape.

She works as a recruitment official and spokesperson for the African Climate Alliance, a youth-led climate advocacy group that organised the #climatestrike protests in Cape Town in collaboration with more than a million young people around the world, including Greta Thunberg:

This ITV News clip from September last year gives her a chance to tell her own story:

As Melithafa told the Daily Maverick:

“It’s very important for poor people and people of colour to go to these protests and marches because they are feeling the wrath of climate change the most. It’s important for them to have a say, for their voice and their demands to be heard.”

She went on to join Thunberg and other young activists at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, last month.

The conference focused on how stakeholder capitalism could solve some of the world’s urgent challenges, in line with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015.

If you want to read more about the Agenda, The Valenture Institute breaks it down on their website. Valenture is a global online high school that incorporates the 17 Sustainable Developments Goals (SDGs) into their curriculum to ensure that their students are global citizens who will contribute positively to the world that they live in – not unlike Melithafa.

At a press conference a week after the Forum, Melithafa, Thunberg, Vanessa Nakate of Uganda, and Makenna Muigai of Kenya spoke out about the marginalising of African voices when it comes to the effects of climate change.

International publications were quick to take notice of her, and her fellow delegates’, urgent appeal for action.

Here’s Melithafa dropping truth bombs about the global South in the Philadelphia Tribune:

“In some cases it is difficult to persuade people to care more about climate change because there are so many other pressing everyday issues such as poverty, unemployment and gender-based violence.”

“That’s hard for the global north to understand.”

Fellow delegate Nakate, spoke about the need for education:

“If only the school institutions would teach the students it is something happening right now”, that could unleash a new generation of activists and drive the problem up the agenda of African leaders”.

The youth of today have a lot to deal with, and it’s more important than ever that they’re educated and armed with the knowledge that they need to navigate the world.

Using the SDGs as a guiding framework, Valenture Institute’s SDG Labs offer an action-oriented and immersive learning experience, equipping students with the understanding and courage to drive social change for a sustainable future.

If you’d like to know more about The Valenture Institute, visit their website and download their info pack. Once you’ve filled out your email address, and phone number, The Institute will forward you a comprehensive PDF of everything that they offer.

Following that, one of their Admissions Counsellors will give you a call to answer any and all of your questions.

Today (February 14) is the final day that the Institute is accepting applications for this year.

As activists like Melithafa point out, it’s no longer enough to simply learn the basics in school. A well-rounded education needs to incorporate the realities of the challenges that young people will face, both now and in the future.

The future, after all, is what they’re working towards.

[sources:dailymaverick&phillytribune]