UVIWE Child and Youth Services pride themselves in partnering with children and youth from the community to bring hope to the community of Schauderville.
Uviwe have recently partnered with Jaco “The Muralist” – a dynamic graffiti artist and muralist who has been living out his passion for over a decade – to transform the grey exterior of Uviwe’s south-facing boundary wall on Nicholas Street into a colourful story of hope, as told by the children and youth of the Schauderville community.
“The children and youth joined in on the fun by excitedly painting the bright, colourful background,” said Uviwe director, Anna-Louise Olivier. “The involvement of the children and youth in the community, in such a high profile project, is critical in ensuring the longevity and sustainability of the final product – a wall of hope and inspiration, symbolic of positive change.”
She further explained that the symbolism of hands as an instrument for good is already a prominent feature of the Uviwe logo. “This concept has now been expanded in the wall mural design with ‘the grip’, symbolising that a community in the grip of violence can take hands and stand together for positive change, through the strengths within the community to facilitate lasting, positive change.”
The piece of land where the Uviwe building is situated has become a dumping ground for rubble in the front, and a crime hot spot at the back.
“The longer you look at something, the longer you are exposed to it, surrounded by it,” said Jaco The Muralist. “You fall prey to becoming a part of it in your thinking patterns – which inevitably spill over into your behaviour,” he said.
The core objectives of Uviwe’s services in the community are also represented in abstract form: to inspire, imagine, ignite and innovate.
Uviwe’s hope for the future of the mural is to stand out as a colourful reminder that change in the community is possible, if they join hands and take a stand to improve.
