Hlayisani Nkhwashu
South Africa
Mandela Washington Fellowship - Summer 2015
“I believe so much in the power of art and culture. It's something that cannot be taken away from us. It's who we are!”
Hlayisani Nkhwashu has 10 years’ experience in championing and volunteering youth socioeconomic programs such as HIV/AIDS campaigns, teenage pregnancy, alcohol and abuse substance with ANOVA, moral regeneration campaigns amongst youth, business development workshops with Small Enterprise Development Agency (SEDA), Gospel Explosion live recordings, and assisting the community to register for subsistence farming government program. He also researched and edited documentaries for popular South African Broadcasting Co-operation (SABC) programs. He is currently the chairperson of the Ndengeza / Msengi / Rotterdam / Maphalle Development Forum, through which he initiated a tarred road construction project for 26 km. He is involved in the live recordings of various musical projects, as technical and creative director, and is also working with musical groups to address xenophobic issues. He holds Media Consultant Diploma with Boston City Campus. Upon completion of the Fellowship, he will focus on youth infrastructure development initiative programs in the surrounding villages.
