8 March (2007), International Women’s Day, is a holiday rooted in celebrating women as makers of history. It recognizes their contributions in every field: from groundbreaking scientific discoveries to affecting social change, from ending slavery to the initiating their suffrage.

Today, in a small classroom in rural South Africa, 15 women are making history in their own right. They are Shangaan and Sotho women between 22 and 34 years of age, bent on changing their own lives, determined to make a better life for themselves and their families.

This week, the Amazwi School of Media Arts (SOMA) opened its doors to these 15 women for its first official session. A rural, women’s only journalism program, offering full scholarships to accepted students, SOMA is the only of its kind in Africa.

This year, these 15 women will complete SOMA’s full-time, ten-month program in apprentice-style journalism, which culminates in a certificate in Narrative Journalism & Fieldwork Studies. Throughout the year they will have the opportunity to write for Amazwi’s quarterly publication, The Voice, and after graduation they will be equipped to begin careers in print media.

For some, this is the first schooling they have received since the apartheid government left power in the 1990s. For most, this is the first education they have received since high school. For nearly all, they are the first in their family to receive any tertiary education.

Each of these women has a unique voice. Each of their communities has an intricate story. Amazwi, meaning “voices” in Zulu, seeks to teach these women the power of the pen– to provide them with the tools through which they can share their voices with the world and document the stories around them.

She wants to tell the world her story. You can help her voice be heard.

Maureen Codd, NPO Manager
info@amazwi.org