WATCH: Charlize, Trevor inspire villagers to dream
Oscar winner Charlize Theron told excited Kwetyana villagers outside East London yesterday that most of the challenges the world faced could easily be solved by women.
The actress, with comedian Trevor Noah, paid a surprise visit to villagers in Kwetyana village 30km outside of East London, where they were accompanied by members of the Small Projects Foundation.
Dispatch reporters’ requests to take photographs and conduct interviews were denied.
The foundation’s managing director, Paul Cromhout, said: “This is a private event and we did not want the media to know about it out of respect for the community.”
However, Noah posted a video of Mzonkeshe Primary School Pupils on his official Instagram account about the event. He wrote: “We start the day in East London with an amazing group of young women who are working to break the cycle of poverty, abuse, and HIV infection.
“Black women are the most vulnerable and often the most undeserved in the world but black women are also most resilient.”
Theron told an audience inside the community hall that the world needed more women leaders.
“You deserve better. Today I see a community of women who are supporting each other.
“When a woman stands with another woman you see leaders and that is what we need all over the world – we need female leadership.”
The Italian Job and A Million Ways to Die in the West actress said: “The end with all of the big issues in the world lies with women. If we can empower women, we can end a lot of what is wrong in the world.”
An emotional Theron hugged a number of young women and told them: “You are going to be the one that is going to change things for the next generations.”
Avela Blayi, 22, said they did not know about the celebrities’ visit to the area. “We were told by the people at our clinic that we must come here today and we did not know that Trevor and Charlize will be here.
“They just told us that it was going to be a youth empowerment event.
“We never expected to see them in our village. We were moved and motivated by their speeches,” Blayi said, adding that the two had inspired his dream of following the arts.
He is a member of the Amandlambe Performing Arts Group.
“I am taking a gap year and I want to go back to school next year. So I have just been busy performing around with our group. They have made my dream of joining the arts and media industry seem more possible.”