Radio Workshop

Aphiwe's grandmother taught her to flatten cardboard boxes when she was just a kid, selling the tiny "baby bundles" and saving the money in a piggy bank. Now 19, Aphiwe wears her grandmother's old work clothes and does the job alone — supporting her entire family. Waste pickers like Aphiwe recover 80% of South Africa's recycled plastic and paper, yet earn poverty wages in an industry that depends on them but won't protect them.
Shownotes
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Sources 
Occupational Groups in the Informal Economy: Waste Pickers
Infrastructure News - Stop Pretending Waste Pickers Don’t Exist
Nature News - South Africa’s waste pickers deserve more recognition for environmental role 
Newcastillian News - SA’s Recycling Lie: What Really Happens to Your Rubbish
Acknowledgements
This episode would not be possible without support from the UMI Fund. Special thanks to Hindenburg for supporting our projects across Africa with audio editing software.

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To wrap up our December re-releases, here’s the third and final episode of our award-winning series. 
Mary-Ann explores the contradictions of life in Alexandra. There are no easy answers, and not everyone will make it out of Alex—but there’s something infectious about the energy and persistence of young Alexandrians, a spirit Mary-Ann embodies and hopes will take her out of Alex. Some day...
Three years later, Mary-Ann is still living in Alex. She says she doesn’t want to be there, but her family needs her. So for now, she’ll stay. She says, “Leaving won’t be impossible, I just need to be patient. I still refuse to grow old here, and that's never gonna change.”
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In episode two of our three-part series re-release, Mary-Ann steps out of her comfort zone to explore parts of Alex she's been warned about her whole life. Her search for answers leads her to places where past and present overlap. How will she find her way out of Alex when the legacy of apartheid lingers, practically in the air she breathes? Meanwhile, things in Mary-Ann’s personal life take a turn for the worse. 
Since we published this episode, Mary-Ann says her personal life has been calm. But Alex remains the same. “Nobody’s coming to save you. It’s every man for himself.” She says she has to fight to have hope when nothing seems to be getting better.
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We can only do this work because of your support. You can make a donation at radioworkshop.org.

Continuing with our December re-releases, today we’re sharing the first episode of the series that earned us our first Ambies nomination and first One World Media award. 
This story starts with a number: 70%. That's how many young people in South Africa are unemployed. Youth hustle and hope to find success, but how do you make it in a place like Alexandra township in Johannesburg? And how do you get out? In this three-part series, 23-year-old Mary-Ann Nobele brings listeners into her life in Alex and says she has made this promise to herself: "I will not grow old here."
Mary-Ann is 25 now. Back then, she was working five jobs to make ends meet. Although she has one full-time job now, she says, “One income is too close to no income. And the thing is, I’m still in Alex.” So she still has a way to go before she reaches the success she dreams of.
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We can only do this work because of your support. You can make a donation at radioworkshop.org.

To continue our month of episodes from the Radio Workshop archives, we're revisiting a story from last year.
Oliver grew up in Kabwe, Zambia. Nearly a century of lead mining has poisoned Kabwe's land, air, and water, making it one of the world's most toxic towns. Now Oliver is watching a new mining boom sweep across his country, this time for minerals that power clean energy. He faces an impossible choice: fight the industry, or join it to change it from within?
Now 19 and a student at Copperbelt University, Oliver is determined to change the industry from the inside out. As Zambia rapidly expands copper exports, he says: "Mining is so important for our country, but we need good policies and practices for it to benefit us and not harm the environment."
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We can only do this work because of your support. You can make a donation at radioworkshop.org.