“So, tell me about this meeting on Friday.”

Jezile told her how they were trying to gain the trust of the people again.

“The councillor thinks if he can get the young people on his side, things can change. And I believe that too.”

“Oh, so he’s just all about being popular on social media to use people for votes?”

“No, not like that. What I meant was, if young people took more interest and petitioned local government, got informed as to what was going on, instead of complaining that the government isn’t doing anything, then maybe we can turn this town around.”

“Maybe they don’t know how,” said Luniko. “Maybe they don’t have access to information that will help them.”

“That’s where you come in. You can help them gain that access. You can help them become informed.” Jezile sounded passionate whenever he talked about young people, or this dead town.

“The councillor is always trying to follow what’s trending, but he is elderly and I don’t think he’s going about it the right way. He wants to engage with young people on platforms where they are found, where they feel free to talk and are most accessible and real. But he doesn’t know how.”

“Real?” Luniko scoffed. “There’s nothing real about social media.”

“Maybe. But a lot of people feel powerful on those platforms. All I’m saying is, if they could use it for good, to tell us what they need, to fight, then maybe we can get somewhere.”

“It’s all been done. And social media is too fast. Great campaigns start and get swallowed by other news. That’s why people just never seem to get heard.”

“You see, you understand all this. Perhaps with someone who would drive campaigns and make sure things don’t get swallowed, we could get things done. And I could show you how people can access information. You could share that with people in Makhomeni, so they know that they can do something to change this place.”

Luniko shook her head. “From what I hear, Makhomeni doesn’t need a social media campaign. People just need action.”

“What kind of action?”

“I don’t know… You could start by getting money from government for a resource centre or a job centre, help people get employed.”

She thought of Xoli’s friend from school who dropped out because she was pregnant. Or the people she went school with who had now turned to a life of crime. Graduates who worked at bars and were doing ‘favours’ for men. All these people, people like Nandi, people like her, who were jobless even though they had skills.

“Or at least teach people to use their skills to create opportunities for themselves. I mean, take the clinic for example …”

Luniko told Jezile of what her mother had told her about the clinic and the old donated equipment. How the staff was expected to be more efficient while there was nobody qualified or knowledgeable to conduct maintenance when the equipment needed it. She spoke with passion, as if she were there when these things happened.

“People are desperate and have lost trust in the government, even the schooling system. That’s why most teenagers have dropped out and some are pregnant, while others hang out and loiter in town in taverns. What’s the point of education if you’ll still end up on the street?”

“You see, these are the things we need to hear.”

“But the government knows this and does nothing to help, especially in villages and small towns like this. They only solicit votes when it’s close to elections. You see them with their food hampers. It’s all corruption. They buy big houses and drive lavish cars while the people go hungry. What do they expect to happen?”

Jezile was looking at her seriously. Luniko wondered if he thought she meant him too. She wanted to tell him that she didn’t, just some politicians. She knew Jezi didn’t come from much, even though he now wore nice clothes, drove a new car and lived in a townhouse in town. Luniko didn’t believe that they were all dirty – not her Jezi at least, sitting here and smiling at her. He would never do that.

Meanwhile she just worried for her future, and Xoli’s future. She didn’t want a hard life and so she knew she needed to do something.

But before she could say anything else, Jezile’s phone rang. He looked at it and said he had to go. They had been talking for over two hours. Where had the time gone?

“I hope you can come to the meeting and raise these issues in public. The councillor needs to hear them.”

Luniko nodded, although she already worried what good would come out of the meeting if what her sister said was true. But, for Jezi, she would definitely attend.

Later that day she started to publicise the meeting. She told Xoli, who told her friends, and she asked Nandi at the library to spread the word too. She and Nandi put up posters at the schools and the clinic.

This was good. Luniko was getting her fire back.

***

Tell us: Where do you get information about what is happening in your community?