listen to 5 Mid Mornings
5 Mid Mornings
5 Mid Mornings is the best way to ease into your workday – keeping your finger on the pulse with the news, tackling some super engaging topics, interesting world views and keeping the good music flowing. It focuses strongly on uplifting and empowering young women, but is definitely also something for the guys!
YB5 with ACFS
Advancing Children For Success's Christine Rudolph joins us for a conversation about the effects of GBV on adolescent girls. We also unpack the importance of sexual and reproductive health awareness and the effects of poverty, namely orphanhood and the gender disparity it creates.
5 MID MORNINGS - 16 DAYS 16 VOICES - CONSTANCE
In the 13th episode of "16 Days, 16 Voices" we hear from Constance in Tembisa. Her story begins with a husband who controlled her every move, refusing to let her go to work and accusing her of cheating whenever she did. One evening, after taking a taxi home from work, she was attacked and gang raped by seven strangers. She went home in shock and could not bring herself to speak. Instead of recognising her trauma, her husband beat her, accused her of being unfaithful, and forced himself on her. When he realised she was bleeding he beat her again and threw her out of their bedroom. This happened only hours after the assault. She eventually opened a case of domestic violence, and during that process a magistrate urged her to reach out to POWA. Through counselling she found support and strength. She divorced her husband, began rebuilding her life, and now works with POWA. She is a single mother of three, carrying the weight of being both parent and protector in her home. "16 Days, 16 Voices" brings forward the truths many women are forced to carry in silence. Each story comes from someone who has survived in a country where danger feels ordinary and violence is woven into daily life. These voices show that GBV is not distant or theoretical, it is personal and it reshapes families, relationships, and entire communities. By allowing survivors to speak in their own words, we honour their reality and make it impossible to ignore the crisis in South Africa.
5 MID MORNINGS - 16 DAYS, 16 VOICES - BONNIE
Bonnie’s story begins when she was 9, in a home where the person meant to protect her became the source of her fear. After a run in with older boys in her neighbourhood, he dragged her by her hair and screamed at her. That moment was the beginning of a pattern. She grew up with insults thrown at her like they were normal, and with a hand striking her face whenever he lost control. The damage from those years did not stay in the past. It shaped how she understands safety, how she sees men, and how she has learned to move through a world that never taught her what love was supposed to feel like. "16 Days, 16 Voices" brings forward the truths many women are forced to carry in silence. Each story comes from someone who has survived in a country where danger feels ordinary and violence is woven into daily life. These voices show that GBV is not distant or theoretical, it is personal and it reshapes families, relationships, and entire communities. By allowing survivors to speak in their own words, we honour their reality and make it impossible to ignore the crisis in South Africa.
5 MID MORNINGS - 16 DAYS, 16 VOICES - PROMISE
Promise represents many women in South Africa whose childhoods were marked by abuse they could not name at the time. In the story, she is harmed by a family member and grows up carrying the weight of it alone. Years later an outreach worker from POWA visits her community, opening a door she never had before. Through counseling sessions she finally spoke out about how she was groomed, harmed, and then pressured into silence through manipulation and bribes, revealing the quiet endurance that shaped her life. "16 Days, 16 Voices" brings forward the truths many women are forced to carry in silence. Each story comes from someone who has survived in a country where danger feels ordinary and violence is woven into daily life.
5 MID MORNINGS - 16 DAYS, 16 VOICES - BALISA
In the 16th episode of "16 Days, 16 Voices" we hear from Balisa. Her story, like so many others, begins with a controlling and abusive relationship. Her partner tried to dictate every part of her life, from where she worked to how she grieved a loss in her family. Tensions escalated and in a moment of unimaginable violence, she was shot in the eye and left unconscious, sustaining life‑changing injuries. The trauma meant that she lost one of her eyes, and her hearing in one ear. When she was finally able to get help, she turned to counselling through POWA, beginning a journey of recovery that has made sure she's been supported through this horror. "16 Days, 16 Voices" brings forward the truths many women are forced to carry in silence. Each story comes from someone who has survived in a country where danger feels ordinary and violence is woven into daily life. These voices show that GBV is not distant or theoretical, it is personal and it reshapes families, relationships, and entire communities. By allowing survivors to speak in their own words, we honour their reality and make it impossible to ignore the crisis in South Africa.
YB5 with COTD
Expanding our understanding of vulnerable children to include tertiary students, CEO Palesa Matuludi speaks on how the organisation is supporting them as a part of the vulnerable youth. Palesa further elaborates on the use of sport as a means to instill positive life values and promote well-being.
QOTD - SEXIEST JOBS
What is the sexiest job?
QOTD - ERASING BAD MEMORIES
If you had the ability to erase bad memories, would you do it? Or do you think bad memories make up who we are?
5 MID MORNINGS - 16 DAYS, 16 VOICES - JES FOORD
In the 14th episode of 16 Days, 16 Voices we hear how Jes Foord is out walking with her father in Kwa Zulu Natal when 5 armed men held them up. They tied her father to a tree and threw her into a ditch where she was gang raped. When the attackers fled, she had to find the strength to report what happened. At the police station she's told there is no private room available, so she waits in the staff lunch area until she can give her statement. She is eventually taken to a clinic in Pinetown where she waited hours for the on-duty doctor to administer a rape kit. Back at the scene the SAPS dog unit finds the perpetrators’ car crashed into a tree about a kilometre away and begins tracking them. The dogs follow the scent for 16 hours until all 5 men are found and arrested. Exactly one year later her case appears in court for the first time. Jes went on to establish a foundation that focuses on education, creating awareness and changing attitudes through advocacy and other initiatives. It's her aim to address the problem itself, and the prevalence of rape in our society. "16 Days, 16 Voices" brings forward the truths many women are forced to carry in silence. Each story comes from someone who has survived in a country where danger feels ordinary and violence is woven into daily life.
5MM UNPOPPYWOPPY - SOCIAL MEDIA BEFORE 16 YEARS
Every country should join Australia and make it illegal for under 16s to be on social medi
QOTD - YOUR YOUNGER SELF
What would your younger self not believe about your life today
5 MID MORNINGS - 16 DAYS, 16 VOICES - MICHAELA VAN NIEROP
Michaela van Nierop shares a story that begins in her 1st year of university, when a night out with friends ended in her being drugged, abducted, and taken to a BnB where she was raped. She was a virgin with a strict Catholic upbringing, carrying shame that was never hers to carry. Years later she met someone online and was raped again. Like so many women featured in "16 Voices", the justice system offered her nothing. She turned to alcohol to cope and eventually checked herself into rehab. Today she is rebuilding her life and choosing to live rather than simply survive.
YB5 with Implilo Collections Foundation
This 16 Days of Activism, Impilo Collection Foundation's founder, Angela Yeung brings a conversation about period poverty to the airwaves. We learn about the organisation's EmpowerHer initiative and the symbolic display of bras at Constitution Hill.
5MM UNPOPPYWOPPY - CONFIDENCE EQUALS HAPPINESS?
The key to happiness is confidence.
QOTD - POPULAR QUALITIES
What are some of the qualities that make someone popular?
5 MID MORNINGS - 16 DAYS, 16 VOICES - MERLIZE JOGIAT
In the 10th episode of 16 Days, 16 Voices we hear from Merlize Jogiat. She is a survivor of gender based violence and now works as the Advocacy and Operations Coordinator for Woman For Change. Her story began in a home where her father used violence and fear as discipline, shaping her earliest understanding of love and authority. As an adult she entered a marriage where the cycle continued. She and her son were abused emotionally, physically and financially. Today Merlize uses her voice and her work to fight for women whose stories mirror her own, and to demand accountability in a country where far too many survivors are silenced.
5 MID MORNINGS - 16 DAYS, 16 VOICES - ANONYMOUS
In the 9th episode of 16 Days, 16 Voices we hear from a survivor who can't share her name because the violence she lived through still threatens her safety. She was on set to film a gospel music video when a group of men armed with guns and knives stormed in. They dragged her and her friends into the bushes and gang raped them repeatedly, she was four months pregnant at the time. She did everything a survivor is told to do; opened a case, trusted the system, yet not a single arrest was made. Police didn't narrow down suspects, or protect her. Instead her identity was leaked to the media, and she had to hide for her own safety to give birth to her child in a safe house. Her story mirrors the reality of countless women in South Africa, women who are forced to rely on the kindness of strangers and organisations like Women for Change because the justice system has left them to fend for themselves.
YB5 with South African Federation for Mental Health (SAFMH)
3 December is International Day of Persons with Disabilities and Michel'le Donnelly joins us for a conversation about inclusivity and how communities can observe this day. She also tells us about the efforts of the organisation to fight for the rights of persons with disabilities and how we can look after our mental health as we approach the new year.
QOTD - TRUE SOUTH AFRICAN EXPERIENCES
What are the things you need to experience to be a true South African?
5 MID MORNINGS - 16 DAYS, 16 VOICES - BULELWA ADONIS
In the 8th edition of 16 Days, 16 Voices we hear from Bulelwa Adonis. She is a psychology student and former Woman for Change spokesperson who has used her own experience to fuel her activism. Bulelwa has been a driving force in calls to recognise GBV as a national emergency, lending her voice to push for real change.
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