How to celebrate Youth Day from home

Published Jun 16, 2020

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South Africans will need to find alternative methods to commemorate Youth Day and the youth of 1976 due to the national lockdown restrictions.

June 16, a day South Africans remember the Soweto uprising in the country’s struggle against apartheid which was led by young people of school-going age.

Here are five ways to use technology to pay tribute to the brave youth of 1976:

Visit a virtual exhibit

Soweto Riots: The Day Our Children Lost Faith is an online exhibit of images and a 360-degree view of the Hector Pieterson Memorial curated by Baileys African History Archive and Africa Media Online and hosted by Google Arts & Culture.

Watch it

Photographer Sam Nzima, whose photograph of Mbuyisa Makhubu carrying gunned-down 13-year-old Hector Pieterson away from the crowds during the Soweto uprising, sat down with TIME Magazine in 2016 (alongside Pieterson’s sister) to shoot a short 11-minute video documentary on the events of 16 June 1976.

Ask questions

Have you ever wondered why we celebrate Youth Day on the 16th of June or what actually led up to thousands of school children staging a peaceful protest on that fateful day or even who took that iconic photo of Hector Pieterson? You can find all you need to know with a quick Google search.

Find the memorial

Did you know that the Hector Pieterson Memorial and Museum in Soweto are located a short 8-minute walk away from President Nelson Mandela’s house? With Street View on Google Maps, you can take a short “walk” from Nelson Mandela’s house to the Hector Pieterson Memorial and Museum in Orlando West.

Upskill yourself

At the time of the Soweto Uprising, South African youth in the townships and rural areas had very few options for the lives they would lead after grade school. Fast forward to 2020, and today some interesting options exist for anyone to acquire the skills they need through platforms like Google Digital Skills for Africa where you can learn how to grow your career or business at your own pace.

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