Content Summary

Contemporary social issues that impact negatively on local and global

communities
Have you noticed how many different home environments are represented in this class. Many of you
have been in class for a long time and don’t even know the social environment that some of your
classmates come from (or maybe you do know where they come from). Regardless of where we come
from, we could say that there are different opportunities available for individuals and communities
depending on where you live. We can even take it further and say that some environments directly
impact the health of the individuals who live there.

Remember that poverty leads to a lack of freedom. You don’t get to choose to live in an area where
there is clean running water and proper sewerage. As South Africans, we need to work together to
make a difference and help those who live in poverty and redress the effects of poverty in our society.

Social justice: This is the process of trying to redress the imbalance that happens amongst
disadvantaged people who are impacted by poverty, discrimination (gender, race, religion, culture and
abilities). This also includes discrimination, lack of access to basic services like hospitals and schools.
Lack of educational opportunities. Lack of food (healthy) causing malnutrition. Poor health because of
health risks.

Environmental justice: Everyone has a right to live in an area where they feel safe and they are not
impacted by things like flooding, no access to running water or electricity etc. Risk to health and not
sustainable.

In South Africa (and many other areas around the world), we have many examples of different forms of
social injustice that occur.

 Rape of school children- Our children are targets for gender-based violence and
cannot protect themselves in many cases. We have a responsibility as South Africans
to look out for one another.
 Lack of basic healthcare for everyone- Sadly there are many people that do not get
the healthcare they need. Some live in rural communities and have to travel far to see a
doctor. Others cannot afford the private hospitals and so have to wait for hours before
they can be helped in over-crowded hospitals / clinics / day hospitals.
 Lack of basic services like toilets- We saw in the image earlier that poverty impacts
communities and many struggle without basic services like running water and sewage
removal.
 Lack of space for everyone to attend school- Although we live in a country that
promotes that education is important, we also have a problem with space in schools
(overcrowded classrooms and lack of schools). Some parents desperately want their
children to have a better future and are willing to sacrifice for that possibility. Many of
the schools that have a reputation for “success” are often full and children must travel
far through possibly dangerous, remote areas to get to school.

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  Violence causes people to die in a brutal way. Family members struggle with
feelings of anger and suffer because of the trauma. South Africa suffers because we
lose future members of society that would have contributed to our economy.
 Crime violates our Constitution which states that everyone has a right to safety.
Based on our South African Constitution, each person in this country has the right to
safety and security. In each of these cases we can see that there are victims whose
rights have been violated. But can you remember from Grade 9 that not only does a
person have rights … but with those rights also come …….. ? (Responsibilities)

Contemporary social issues that impact negatively on local and global

communities

Loadshedding is a contemporary environmental issue that has a harmful effect on individual people,
communities as well as our country.
The reality is that loadshedding is not just going to go away. As South Africans we need to be positive
and learn how to overcome the challenges of difficult situations like loadshedding.

To some in South Africa the impact is so severe that it has directly impacted their health or income.
Some small businesses in South Africa have closed because they cannot run without electricity. This
means that more people lose jobs which causes increased unemployment and poverty.

We know that poverty impacts how your basic daily needs are met. People who live in poverty don’t
have money to buy food every day and often struggle with hunger. Sometimes, like in this picture, they
are forced to live in an area where their health is impacted and it's easy to get sick and communities
even suffer from diseases like cholera (cholera is a bacterial infection caught from drinking
contaminated water that can often be deadly especially to young children and the elderly). We can also
see from this image that housing is a problem as not everyone has their own home that is stable. There
are challenges with privacy as often many sleep in small spaces.

One of the causes of poverty is unemployment, but inequality (or social injustices), lack of education
(links with unemployment); lack of access to clean water and nutritious food (are all social issues) all
play a part. The term unemployment refers to a situation where a person actively searches for
employment but is unable to find work. In South Africa, the largest group of people who are
unemployed are the youth.

Poverty is when people cannot fulfil their most basic needs. What are our most basic needs?

Skills that are necessary to participate in civic life:

Maybe you have begun to feel quite strongly about some of the issues that have been raised
and you wish you knew how you could make a difference in your own school or community.
But before you can become a person that impacts and adds value to society, we will need to
develop different kinds of social thinking and constructive thinking skills, because these
challenges are complex and need skills that will help you to give it your best shot.
Social thinking skills can be defined as skills that will help you see a need in society and
reason out what actions you could take to impact that need. These skills also help you to
consider the emotions and responses of other people. (i.e. to show empathy)

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 Constructive thinking skills let you think in a helpful way. This allows you to analyse a
situation and not just act with too much emotion.

When you are confronted by a challenging situation you will need to use these skills. eg. You
and your friends are walking home from school, and you come across two children that are
begging for food because they are hungry. You would use your social thinking skills by
recognizing the NEED - They are hungry. You would wonder what they are FEELING/
THINKING and you would FEEL sympathy towards them. Constructive thinking skills help
you consider a solution - like you and your friends putting some money together to buy some
bread for these children.

To address a social impact, we need to first outline the knowledge and skills required to make
the best decision to help. Basically, this means to think about the pro’s and con’s or advantages
and disadvantages of responding.

Skills that are necessary to participate in civic life:

● We ended the last lesson watching this short clip where the woman inspired young children.
Can you remember THREE ACTS of volunteering she did?

❖ She helped a homeless man.

❖ She fed a little dog.
❖ She fed the birds seeds.
❖ She gave groceries to someone in need.

This woman chose to care for other people in her community by showing kindness with her
actions. She inspired the children to also work together to be a blessing to her by showing their
gratitude for her acts of kindness. It is interesting to note that in a society, the least likely to
volunteer and help in a community are the youth. Why do you think it's difficult for the
youth of today to volunteer?

Maybe you think you don’t have time, you have so much schoolwork and sport after school,
you barely have time for your family. Maybe you can’t see the point in doing something that will
not directly give you anything in return.

As a South African citizen, we have a responsibility to get involved and improve the quality of
life of our community. We have seen so many social injustices over the last few lessons and
have become aware that these issues need a community to see the NEED and choose to ACT.
This will help to stop poverty, disease and the violation of human rights. One of the ways you
can act is to volunteer in a community project or offer a service to a community. These youth
and civic organisations make it their goal to work together towards improving the lives of
everyone.

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 List FIVE reasons from this clip why youth have volunteered.
Some of those reasons include:

1) It builds character
2) Creates opportunities
3) Teaching us to empathise with others
4) We would experience different places we would not normally experience
5) This would affect the quality of life for those you help.
6) Get to know yourself better
7) Learn new skills
8) Add value to your CV
9) Help build South Africa

In each community there are opportunities for youth to get involved. Sometimes these are
organised by a local faith-based organisation or your library. In your groups, discuss examples
of where you have seen youth get involved in community projects. Ask the learners if in their
research for homework, they heard of organisations in their community where they could
volunteer. Allow learners to research on their phones to find THREE organisations they could
get involved in within their community.

Skills that are necessary to participate in civic life:

● Application of the lessons learnt.