As many of you know, through various Wetopia projects we try to create a new “us.” Not as an abstract idea but as something real and alive. Between neighbours, between sectors, between generations, wherever walls have been built, we look for bridges.

The 18th of October 2025, a new “us” emerged from a very specific and layered reality: post-apartheid South Africa, in Cape Town: between Langa and Athlone. 

In 2023 we organised Girls Make the City in Langa, a black township. Over the past weeks, we did the same around Nantes Park in Athlone, a so-called coloured suburb. These neighbourhoods lie right next to each other, yet connections between them are almost nonexistent. Even thirty years of democracy have not broken down those walls.

Both areas are products of the apartheid regime. On the 2011 map, and still in today’s reality, the separation is striking. One group lives in one area and another group in the other. There is rarely any contact.

But what we experienced was something different. Beneath these structures lies a shared humanity. So many common values, struggles and forms of resilience. Two communities, each with their own scars, but also with their own strength. It was a powerful moment to see seventeen young women come together to build this “us” with us at the Zeitz Mocaa museum, a space that itself symbolises transformation and imagination.

Thanks to Lilitha, Ithinathi, Tara, Likhona, Miché, Katelynn, Zuri, Lulama, Tatum, Anela, Chanté, Tyra-Lee, Sha, Sima, Alex, Chloe, Portia. You did something really special! 

Thanks to our incredible team of Queenagers! And our partners, especially Liesl Hartman from Zeitz ❤️ Photos: Natalie Sternberg.