insight Jozi News

  The Forgotten Orphans of Hillbrow A Story I Could Not Ignore By Noko Maleka | Insight Jozi News In the heart of Hillbrow, one of Johannesburg’s busiest and most misunderstood neighbourhoods, I encountered a story that changed the way I look at the word orphan. As a journalist and founder of Insight Jozi News, I spend most of my time telling the stories of Johannesburg and its people. But sometimes a story stops being something you simply report on — and becomes something you feel responsible for. That is what happened when I came to know the children of Malaika Orphanage. These children, known in the community as the Malaika kids, live in a privately run home that relies largely on the kindness of ordinary people. Spending time with them left me with a question I still struggle to answer: Why are some orphans fully supported by the system while others survive only through community compassion? Some of the children I met were born to undocumented migrants who later disappeared or ...

 The Silent Weapon: Narratives have Built and Rebuilt- Project Hillbrow  By Noko Noko Maleka | Insight Jozi News There is a quiet force that shapes nations, defines communities, and determines how people see themselves long before policy, economics, or politics intervene. That force is narrative. “I have a view that the main catalyst behind our societal issues is narrative. Narrative creates perception — and perception determines the result.” For decades, global storytelling has subtly elevated certain societies while diminishing others. A repeated message becomes accepted truth. When one group is consistently portrayed as advanced, refined, and superior, and another as struggling, chaotic, and dependent, the psychological impact is inevitable: people begin to internalize those hierarchies. This is not always overt. It happens through images, headlines, conversations, and even jokes. A narrative becomes a silent weapon. And Africa, I believe, has long been on the receiving end...