[MUSIC] Now, with this journey of having to start trying to think about how we're going to solve the problem, here we had a group of ex-gang members, drug dealers, drug addicts who hasn't got the experience of how they're going to provide one, support and counseling services. And two, they needed to learn a little bit more about technology. So for many of the team, they actually had to think about engaging with people that they've never engaged with before. Remember, for most of them, all their lives there's been a stigma around their life. I mean, they come from the Cape Flats. They come from a community that's impoverished. They come from difficult circumstances. And here they had to engage with people that normally don't see them eye-to-eye. So going, firstly, we have to understand, what are the new technologies that people are using? So they started going to conferences. They started going to technology events. And I remember those were always one of the fascinating ones, especially when you kind of rock up with these guys and girls. Many of these guys had all these tattoos, and people are asking, so what do you guys do at these technology events. And then the general would just respond, well, we're ex-gang members or drug dealers. That wasn't a very kind of good introduction to where they were going. But they were so uncomfortable in the beginning. But immediately, the minute they started realising the importance of them engaging with people in the technology industry because they understood that they needed to learn that in order for them to be better prepared for what they were going to provide as a solution later on. At the same time, when they started doing things such as talking about that they wanted to do mobile counseling, we then had professional counselors and the counseling bodies that said, but you are not real counselors. And the more they were trying to explain to them that they've got their own personal life experience, that their belief can add value to the people that they're trying to serve. People were saying, no, but you are not counselors. So through that they then had to go and learn how to become counselors. They had to go to sessions with professional counselors. They had to go and learn a little bit more about the industry, the Department of Social Development. They had to engage with people in the healthcare industry. And all of these things took them beyond what they are used to. So going through their journey was not just important for them in order to get to what they going to do to solve the problem, but it was also very good for them on a personal level, as well. So imagine also for those young men and women having to now go back to ask forgiveness for the same people that they used to disempower. These are all the things that took them out of their comfort zone. At the same time the more they want to go back into the same communities and areas where they feel foreign now. Remember the same place where they used to be involved with gangs and drugs, now I have to go and engage again with the same people was very difficult for them. But here, they realised the importance of having to do that. [MUSIC] Coming from a breakdown where you're not used to being between people, that's, how can I say that? That has a higher grade as you, that has better education as you. Starting at RLabs, I always felt that I don't belong, that I'm not worthy. I always felt like the odd one out, back then. But that has really challenged me. And nowadays even when I needed to meet people at times, to speak to them I always told Marlon and they're like, I'm not able to speak to those people. And I think that was my biggest challenge that I overcame. And now when I meet people I'm just me, like Marlon always said, you're the most important person and people want to speak to you. So you don't need to feel afraid or threatened by them so. I've overcome, that was one of my biggest challenges, and today I've overcome it. I never saw myself as a leader. I just thought, well, I'm just an ordinary person just living life and continuing. But it striked that leader within me, that person that just doesn't want to strive only for themselves but strive to make sure that the next person is also helped out, also knows what can they do for our country. Because it was always about self, but then it has challenged me to not only think about myself but also to think about the next person next to me. So I've been challenged a lot in that sense. [MUSIC] So through all of this they started seeing that as they began engaging with people around counseling and engaging with the people in the technology space, they found it a bit more easier in understanding these kinds of areas more and more. Because they had to break those barriers that was generally out of their comfort zones. At the same time, we saw that as these young people started engaging deeper with the people on these other areas they're not comfortable in, they immediately started looking at ways and means of how they can start solving the problem. And not only did that happen, of course, later on we started finding that the media created some attention. Where the media wanted to know a bit more about, so what are these young people going to do using mobile technology and combining it with something as around drug addiction on the Cape Flats? They did have to also now get a little bit familiar with, how do we deal with the media? All of a sudden, the things that we didn’t want people to know about us, now the world knows our backgrounds. Now the world knows a little bit more about the things that we’ve been through. So these are the kind of things that they had to learn during this time. But in the end, it actually got them to a place where they not only understood the problem better, but they also started gauging and understanding who are the people that we know we can work with as we start creating a solution for our problems. [MUSIC]
