Sun Raise: Where Creativity Meets Crisis

-Ashley Allard

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This year’s #FeesMustFall protests were reminiscent of what we have read in history books. Quelled post-pandemic, the strike action involved sit-ins, sleep-ins, traffic obstruction, and total shutdowns. The students are speaking loudly, and no one is listening.

#FeesMustFall is a regular, loud, and mass-attended strike action, yet Sun Raise is one of the first initiatives trying to find a way to match the needs of the students in any way this youth-led creative initiative can.

Sun Raise, led by North North Social Club’s (NNSC) Andrea Davids and Operation Khataza’s own Lois Flandorp, held its first event on the closed Breë Street on Sunday, the 16th of March. Sun Raise activated the street, hosting Slam City’s open mic poetry and various comedians from the Cape Town comedy collective That’s Not Funny. QR codes to donate to the cause were plastered on every possible surface, and cardboard boxes collected material donations for students in need. Gina Levi offered group drawing lessons and sold their artwork alongside Lyrique Adams and Lerato’s Ferniture, while Zizipho Bam and Thandiwe Nqanda sold and performed their soul-stirring poetry. All the money raised was donated to students in need of funding.

Art has always been at the forefront of protest, born to express and fight social ills. However, as we spill into late-stage capitalism, art has lost its mutability and untied nature, turning more and more into a commodity, the price fluctuating with the stocks.

Andrea: I think about back in the day when they used to have benefit concerts. The Live Aid benefit concert is still one of the biggest concerts to ever happen post-apartheid because there were creatives [that headlined for the good of the cause, including Queen]. We just made a big hoo-ha. A massive hoo-ha, in the best way possible.

Artists aren’t performing for free anymore. The big scandals in the art industry surround the flux of merchandise and ticket prices. They utilise the starving artist motif to support their ridiculously expensive outputs. However, the majority of this money still returns to Big Art. This has encouraged art to be seen as more of an object, something to wear and post about on social media, a Cool Girl accessory, rather than what it is actually there for.

Lois: Art is way more than money and a source of income. It’s a life-giving thing. Artists have been raising awareness for social problems forever. Because that’s what art is. It’s birthed out of seeing a problem and wanting to express something about it, whether it’s in yourself, a person, place, or government. [Sun Raise] is not necessarily a new thing, per se, but it’s redirecting a lot of Cape Town creators’ focus to help them understand that we can do something with our art. That it can still be life-giving, even if it’s not money-giving.

Multiple stereotypes prevent people from having sympathy for the students fighting for free education. The first is that studying itself is seen as a privilege. And it is. Often, aspiring students are told to take a gap year to save for their studies. But it is never that simple.

Andrea: It comes with the responsibility of having to pay for it because it’s in your name. Like you can't have them transfer the debt to your parents. This is literally yours.

People assume that there is a huge jump in maturity between matriculation and campus orientation week. Students are still kids: They go from staying up late, completing homework, writing LO, and running laps for marks to being expected to prevent a massive debt from accumulating and shadowing them for the rest of their lives. You are still a medical aid dependent until you are 25.

quick snap of Andrea and Lois on Breë

Andrea’s first year of university was paid for by private donors via StudyTrust. When Andrea finished her undergraduate studies in BComm, she said that if she got funding again, she would complete her Honours in Information Systems.

Andrea: And then HP sponsored me. I got a laptop, went to Joburg for a conference and met these kids like me from all around South Africa. When I graduated I used to think, how do I become a private donor? Like, does R80 matter? Can I commit to a 3k every year for someone? And that dream was revived again when I saw Lois’ story.

At the end of last year, Lois posted on Instagram asking the community for help. Her post circled social media, further pushed by her position in the band currently making waves across South Africa, Operation Khataza. Lois uploaded a back-a-buddy link and asked anyone who could to donate and share so that she could pay off her student fees.

Lois applied for a NSFAS loan every year of her studies, only hearing back in 2024:

Lois: In 2024, I got ‘Subject to Available Funds’. I was like I have no idea what that means. So I go to the funds office. And they’re like, “Oh, you should go to the NSFAS office”. I sit in this long-ass line only for the woman to tell me, “Oh, it says you’ve been accepted. We acknowledge you need funding, but we don’t have that much funding, so we’re prioritising people with even lower income brackets”. I was like, cool. Prioritise those who need more, but now that you’ve accepted me, I can’t apply for another bursary. Now I’m screwed. And I was so screwed for 2024. It was bad every other year before that. And that’s why the debt accumulated.

When Andrea came across Lois’ back-a-buddy, she felt a sense of responsibility to help. Lois is a creative and vital part of the Cape creative scene. Andrea thought that if there was one way to repay Lois for her talent and performance, it would be to help her out.

Lois: I felt incredibly hopeless. There were days where I would just sit in my bed and cry. My dream is to be an anthropologist, have my PhD and teach. But now money is stopping my dream from happening. I was so convinced that I’m going to have this debt for the rest of my life. (…) I was then speaking to some classmates about what their funding situation for the year was like. I said I was waiting to hear about this one and that one, and then one classmate said, “Oh, I got a UCT scholarship”. And I’m like, dude, you have a car that you drive to campus every day. I stood on a train and a jammie to and from campus. And that’s not seen as something that could affect whether I get a scholarship or not.

University administration is blind to obstacles and limitations that reside on the intersection. Instead, you are nothing but a statistic, a number, someone/thing that has applied for funding. University administration assumes sameness among students: It assumes that we have all had equal access to the same level of education. It assumes that we all have the same socio-political and economic background. It assumes we can all easily acquire 60% for English in matric; it ignores the child who learned all their subjects in Xhosa and must now complete their undergrad entirely in English. Because of this, they won’t be able to qualify for private donors. So, instead, this child will be judged the same way a child who received Model C schooling is judged.

Lois here argues about the missing middle-class category, where you fall between privileged and underprivileged and are therefore placed on ‘Hold’, continuing this limbo. In addition to this, bursaries and scholarships don’t necessarily target creative applicants.

Andrea: “This is a good time for this amount of creativity to be the response.”

Lois managed to reach her fundraising goal. The back-a-buddy link circled the creative scene, with everyone re-sharing and/or donating as much as possible. Her father is a pastor, allowing Lois’ back-a-buddy to attract international donors. An artist, now a friend, donated some of the money she made from each commission to Lois. Every little bit helps.

But Sun Raise is not just a fundraising initiative. Since that warm and sunny Sunday, Sun Raise has already hosted more events, platforming more incredible creatives for good. Each performer echoes the message of Sun Raise:

Andrea: We need to come into the moment. I see you crying; I got you. I see you happy, we can laugh together. I see you are hungry; have a sandwich. If you’re having a bad day, I can’t possibly ignore that. We are going to keep our hearts in the right place. We know what is important.

Sun Raise is making waves across Cape Town. It is a message of warmth, compassion and hope. If we show up for each other, and extend a hand, we can tackle these obstacles. Student debt is a monumental issue in South Africa, and it is a definitive obstacle holding us back. But, with creativity and activation, we can make a real difference. It is exciting to be around at the same time as this initiative: Sun Raise shows us that we are capable of so much more than we believe ourselves to be.

Follow Sun Raise on social media to stay informed on events and calls to action. And if possible, donate to the cause.