Why we started I Am Somebody!

In February this year, Nicole le Roux and Toni Stuart, met Warren Te Brugge of My Arms Wide Open, which aims to help young social entrepreneurs start the work they want to do in South Africa. He spoke to Nicole and Toni about why they started I Am Somebody! and why this work is important to each of them personally. Visit the My Arms Wide Open blog here http://www.manzimvula.com/blog/2010/04/18/yes-i-am-somebody-communicating-your-heart/ to watch clips of the interviews.

I Am Somebody! takes off

After nine months of developing our programme and planning, I Am Somebody! went fulltime from July 1. Already we have establishd partnerships with a corporate company in Cape Town - we will be running a mentorship programme with their 18 to 25-year-old staff in exchange for use of their conference facility. In August we are partnering with My Arms Wide Open http://myarmswideopen.org/ to deliver training to 21 social entrepreneurs in Cradock in the Eastern Cape. In September, we are working with another Cape Town-based non-profit to bring storytelling into a photography project they are doing with high school students. We are also in discussion with Real Stories Gallery http://www.realstoriesgallery.com about partnering with them on their work around HIV/Aids awareness. We're excited to finally be starting the work!