We are CapeTonian is a collaboration between Cape Town Partnership and the Scalabrini Centre of Cape Town that celebrates migrants’ contributions to the economic and cultural vibrancy of Cape Town. By creating a space to hear a different story each month, we hope this series will enhance and challenge common perceptions of migration. Here we speak with Patrick Nzinga originally from Angola.
June 20 is World Refugee Day. We celebrate one of Cape Town’s school principals who is using the challenges of xenophobia to build momentum around creative learning.
In 2017 we will celebrate World Refugee Day through a media campaign.
The campaign will celebrate and unite those who welcome others in their own spaces. It will highlight the message that, no matter who you are or where you are from – whether you are a migrant in South Africa, South African, or a person who is in another country, where there are South African migrants – ‘my house is your house’.
In the past year the South African government has published some important policy documents that indicate a serious shift in the future of migration policy for the country. This includes a new Green Paper on International Migration, the Refugees Amendment Bill, and the Border Management Authority Bill. Here we answer some FAQs around these policies.
Father Pablo Velasquez has reopened Scalabrini Centre’s Multi-faith Pastoral Desk, where migrants and refugees from all faiths and backgrounds, can seek spiritual discussion, guidance and support.
The Scalabrini Centre of Cape Town, an NGO promoting integration within the Western Cape, has developed a specialised project within its Employment Access Programme – and is seeing a near 100% success rate. Understanding the success of the ‘Aftercare Programme’ could lead to the model being used elsewhere.
High bank charges force immigrants to send money home “hand-to-hand. Billions of rands involved, says new Scalabrini Centre report. Read the full story here.
As a migrant woman in South Africa, accessing the healthcare system can be an overwhelming experience. Shortly after its foundation, Scalabrini’s Women’s Platform quickly noticed that many refugee and migrant women were not accessing health care due to their lack of fluent English or valid documentation.
Mama Placide, 63 years old, comes from Democratic Republic of Congo. She has been living in Cape Town since 2008. In her country she studied to become a nurse, but she has always nurtured her passion for sewing. Once in South Africa, she turned her passion into a business thanks to her skills, her strength and the support of the Women’s Platform of the Scalabrini Centre. She currently runs her business in Brooklyn, Cape Town. The sewing atelier “Uriphos” is located inside the “5 rand store” shop in Koeberg Road. From the shop window it is possible to admire her stylish creations: this attracts lots of clients!
The Scalabrini Centre has recently signed a partnership with Lady Liberty SA (NPO), a mobile legal office that travels to underprivileged and remote communities to empower women with access to basic legal information and case resolution around domestic violence, sexual assault, marriage, divorce, maintenance and wills.
