Academy Award-winning actress and Dior Beauty Ambassador Charlize Theron has always been a strong advocate for marginalised communities in her birth nation. And the situation is critical: femicides are five times higher than the global average, and gender-based violence is on the rise. Marie Claire journeyed to South Africa to meet the women who are the true agents of change.It feels like a cliché to call Cape Town, South Africa, a city of contrasts, but that’s what it truly is. Universities, art centres, and upmarket restaurants along the waterfront next to the vast expanse of slums and townships. This is Charlize Theron's hometown, and she understands its issues all too well. In 2007, she created the Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project (CTAOP) to put both her fame and deep need to help to good use. "We wanted to do something that we really felt was needed, instead of getting in the way of what other people were already doing." This is how her organisation got started, in HIV and AIDS prevention. Now it has gone beyond that, building partnerships with local programs. CTAOP identifies a need and an initiative that is working to solve that need, bringing in that extra support and funding that will allow community leaders on the ground to effect necessary change, while also fostering the next generation of leaders.She invites us to University of Cape Town, to meet some of the students that have benefited from CTAOP’s scholarship program. "I love this program," gushes Theron, "because I have personally seen what powerful young people are capable of." These are young women who have been identified by a variety of local programs and associations and then offered this scholarship, which pays their way through university. One of the students, Onesimo, puts it very plainly: "I was always worried about school fees, and not having my studies, the time that I would miss school, or whether I would go to bed hungry." Only three things are needed to qualify: the intellect and conscientiousness required to finish the degree, strong leadership qualities and a passion for giving back.
