DJ Akio Kawahito appointed as Step-Up 4 Life Goodwill Ambassador

American-born Hip-Hop artist DJ Akio Kawahito aka DJ Intelligent Design was appointed on Monday as Step-Up 4 Life’s Goodwill Ambassador. Akio is excited to be on board and look forward to through his music and networks advocating for youth development across the globe.

Akio says"In DJing, understanding and reaching out to the youth is a priority. In the development sector, it’s a necessity. I'm proud to represent Step-Up 4 Life as an Ambassador because I believe that they do this in a manner which will positively influence the youth and their communities for the future".

Described by his peers as “eternally positive”, Akio has spent time living in Australia, Belgium, Japan, Spain, and the Netherlands. One year after graduating from Rhodes College with a B.A. in Economics and a Minor in Art History, Akio bought his first pair of Numark Turntables and a mixer. This seemingly insignificant purchase and the love for spinning records that followed, laid the foundation for the future creation of ConsciousFlowz.

In 2002, Akio created Collide-A-Scope Records, a consortium of DJs, in Nagoya, Japan and regularly put on events. During his travels through Southeast Asia, Akio was initially struck with the reality of living conditions in developing countries. This inspired him to pursue a Masters Degree in International Relations at the University of Amsterdam. Throughout his Masters course in the Netherlands, Akio maintained his passion for music, DJing throughout Amsterdam. His belief in music’s ability to uplift society spawned the concept for ConsciousFlowz during that long Dutch winter. Upon graduation in October of 2005, with optimism in his eyes and music in his heart, Akio began to breathe life into the project and teamed up with three young and passionate optimists to create the current ConsciousFlowz staff.

As a DJ, Akio is known as I.D. (Intelligent Design) and runs the popular events company Kool Out Entertainment. He also is a member of one of South Africa's top crews ILL-Literate-Skill and has performed alongside Slum Village, Ready D, People Under the Stairs, DJ Babu, Tumi, and HHP.

The Step-Up 4 Life Trust aims at developing networks of service orientated and values driven youth, participating in community development, inspired by the upholding of social rights and responsibilities. Our mission is to build social networks of youth, promote an ethos of social service and care, facilitate giving and volunteering partnerships between youth and community development initiatives and advances and understanding of social rights and individual responsibilities through education programmes integrated with community development.

Building a Values-driven Society

In pursuance of the aim of ‘Step-Up 4 Life’ to promote a strong sense of values, rights and responsibilities amongst youth, we engage in partnerships with other initiatives working with youth to explore the themes of belonging and contributing. One of our trustees collaborated in this regard, with Peace Jam in a series of workshops entitled ‘Slavery - then and now’, with a group of 12 youth from townships in Cape Town. Participants in this project comprised of learners from Heideveld High, Peak View, Ned Doman, Zonnebloem Nest, Sans Souci Schools and young people from the Oozi Project in Khayelithsa.

The earliest recorded case of philanthropic giving in South Africa was that of a freed slave woman who had become a successful market gardener in the City after her manumission. Her name was Armosyn van der Kaap and she had been a slave in the Slave Lodge in Adderley Street for most of her life, acting as the matron of the Lodge. After gaining her freedom and on her death she had a substantial amount of money, most of which was bequeathed to her large family. But a significant portion was set aside for the poor and destitute of Cape Town. Armosyn had throughout her life, regardless of the misery of slavery, given service to her fellow slaves and in so doing rose above adversity. All of the evidence at hand shows that this spirit of giving lives on amongst our people across the Cape Peninsula and Flats.

One of the programmes of ‘Step-Up 4 Life’ is dedicated to promoting a commitment to a values-driven and socially responsibility society. It involves building character and using lessons in our heritage to build social fabric amongst youth in our communities. We believe that by knowing where we come from and appreciating the past spirit of overcoming adversity, our youth have a greater ability to tackle the challenges of the present and future.

One of our trustees working in partnership with an initiative of Peace Jam at the District Six Museum, engaged 12 young people around our heritage rooted in slavery at the Cape. The workshops explored the spirit of rising above adversity, the ties that bind us across community identities, community ethics and the role that social contribution plays in our lives. It also looked at the false sense of identity that is drawn from gangs, drugs and commodity cultures. Through the programme the youth involved produced a calendar and illustrated books based on their heritage and their outlook on peace and social contribution. The calendar used the old slave names that were taken from the names of the month. Each month carried an illustration done by individuals in the group plus a story associated with their family. Sales of the materials produced, partially funded the programme.

Participants were: Thenjiwe Magini, Nontlahla Baba, Callum Scholtz, Shameeg Theron, Jonathan Muzang, Atheena Ferguson, Elvin Hendricks, Melihlanga Ntiya-Ntiya, Kh.ayalethu Ndolela, Akhona Makelelni, Nokubonga, Toni Sam, Dooling Durnas, Joshua Klein, Thabo Xinindlu, Randy Pierre, Simon Mojoko and Vuyokazi Nqozomba. Financial contributors were made by PEACEJAM, DISTRICT SIX MUSEUM, and THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNITY SAFETY OF THE PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT OF THE WESTERN CAPE.

This activity was followed up with a number of other workshops of a similar type. By using the fun formula of exploring family roots and heritage we have been able to explore family and community values and apply these to the challenges of the present.

Micro-giving by a group of Peers

The Melanie School Bursary is a micro-giving project by a group of young professionals who were friends when they were at university and now want to leave a legacy as associates.

Melanie is a 12 year old girl from Rocklands in Mitchells Plain. Both of her parents are first-level nurses, working shifts, at a state hospital. Melanie has an older brother and a younger brother and the family also have extended family from the Northern Cape living with them in their small house. Basic nursing salaries are very low and do not stretch very far.

Over her junior school years Melanie’s late grandmother assisted her parents by providing family support to Melanie and they sent her to the primary school in the Southern Suburbs of Cape Town. As a result Melanie excelled at school and got a very good Grade 7 pass, with most of her subjects in the 80 – 96% mark. Because of her excellent marks Melanie was accepted by a very good High School in the Southern Suburbs of Cape Town. She set her heart on attending this high school. The school also offers sporting, arts and music offerings. Melanie’s parents however, do not earn enough to cover the expense of the school’s fees and the uniform, text books and stationery requirements.

The alternative is a school in Rocklands, where Melanie will have none of the support previously afforded to her, nor most of the options she wishes to pursue.

One of Step-Up 4 Life’s trustees organised a micro-philanthropy appeal to raise money for Melanie’s schooling. It was explained that the parents could afford the first few hundred rands per month and that we needed to raise the rest. In other words, Melanie and her parents needed a step-up. It was also explained that we were asking a basket of people to donate micro amounts per month over five years. All contributors would receive financial statements from a dedicated account twice a year and they would receive a progress report for Melanie and she would keep in contact with them. The appeal closed with a radio broadcast on Cape Talk with Soli Philander, where we introduced the ‘Step-up 4 Life’ micro-philanthropy concept of young professionals taking a life-long philanthropy initiative – Stepping up to the plate (over their entre life), to give others a step up in their lives.

Pledges for 5 years topped R115 000, and was made up of micro-amounts contributed by a small group of young professionals. A dedicated Melanie School Fund account was opened at the bank into which all contributions, even that of the parents, are deposited. The amounts ranged from R50 to R300 per month.

Philanthropy is not just something that can be done by the wealthy. In fact, research shows that ordinary people with modest incomes do the most giving in South Africa. Response to this appeal proved this to be true.

Four of the young professionals who make up the core group of givers in this case are peers who attended university together before going into the workplace. Some of them came from low-income families and now wanted to ‘pay something forward’ and do their bit to ensure that another young person may get a quality education. They wanted to leave a legacy of their friendship and commitment to social advancement in their community. These peers have also offered Melanie tuition support by volunteering time, taken her on outings and provided informal counselling. This is the Step-Up 4 Life model in action. It is an innovative ‘New Philanthropy’ approach in South Africa pioneered by ‘Step-Up 4 Life’.