By Vuyo Polson

Just as Spring signals new beginnings that can be felt in the air, the rising of the sun brings the hope of a new day, which we feel in our hearts. That warmth from the sky touches everything— flowers growing in the field, the hair atop your skin, the man resting in the street. Everything knows that dawn delivers something new and different: opportunity. Hope. It is precisely that hope and opportunity that Andrea Davids and Lois Flandorp aimed to channel when they founded Sun Raise – the grassroots organisation that aims to support financially dis-empowered students, through community and creativity. Launched in March of 2025, the initiative has raised thousands of rands in funding and basic necessities that have gone directly to students to support their struggle for education.

The impact of Sun Raise is already tangible, even more so now that the collective has managed to provide enough funding to alleviate the debt of a student, allowing him to graduate. Through community Sun Raise has directed the warmth in the sky to shine down onto David Arries, allowing him the honour of graduating in September of this year - through presence, people and community.

Andrea Davids and Lois Flandrop at the SunRaise Bree Street Activation in March - Image by @vuyopolson

I sat down with David to hear his story – where he’s come from, and where he’s going. We’d always known of each other but hadn’t met until Sun Raise brought us together in conversation. It’s funny how these things come together, and as you’ll come to see, it’s beautiful how they play out.

So tell me David, what do you do?

“I studied Environmental Geographical Sciences. I mean yeah like that’s what I did academically, we all have to work on something, right? That’s what I do.”

“But I feel like I went through a whole season of creating shoots, doing all sorts of creative videos, helping musicians, artists, and painters. I was also doing styling, and I was just everywhere. And I feel like I finally got time to think about what I do. Right now, my main focus is mainly on creating and being a visual storyteller. Storytelling on specific societal issues, because no one is really doing that in Cape Town. It’s creating visual storytelling through photography while also tackling big societal issues.”

“I think it actually started last year in November with Rishi. He and I won first prize for this photo competition hosted by Green Africa Youth Organisation. It was about capturing resilience in the face of climate change. That was kinda cool. It affirmed that maybe this sort of creating is something I needed to fully invest in, because I have this anthropology background and I need to start creating and telling stories about Cape Town, the hood, the struggles, and the real stuff.”

What does ‘community’ mean to you?

“Community is so powerful bro. If you really want to get deeper into the whole nuance of it, you can say that community is anti-capitalistic — capitalism breaches individuality, you know.”

“Us as African people on this continent, we make songs, and music for community bro. It’s stories for the community to pass down the generations, right? When it comes to community, we can literally do so much together. I think that’s something that so many bigger figures in my life preached to me. You can literally start a business, you can start an event, a movie, and that’s all through community. And I think the underlying essence in community is connection. Me and you speaking right now is just that. Like you don’t really know me, and I don’t really know you but we speaking and we’re going to finally connect, we’re going to start a community, we might meet someone else along the way, and we will all meet and move towards one thing.”

“And I think the odds of achieving what we want together with people is beautiful. That shit is beautiful bro. There’s just so much power in community. I realised it when I started creating. I’d see all the people show up to the events that we used to throw, seeing how people engaged with us, giving flyers out, supporting us, buying shit from us, following us. We were all connecting.”

“Community is home bro. And I think our first ever community is our family. From the moment that you come out into this world, you don’t choose, and it’s a village raising you from day one.”

The community at the Sun Raise Bree Street activation - Image by @vuyopolson

You’re right when you say our first community is our family. It takes a village to raise a child. Growing up, what did your village look like?

“When I tell my story to other people, it’s unfortunate, but I don’t really see it that way. But ‘unfortunately’, my mum and my dad were never in my life. They neglected me from the get-go. And I’m saying it’s unfortunate because that should never be that way. But we grew up in a way that we made the best of what we had. It was my grandparents that raised me, after being neglected by my parents.”

“That was basically it, but I think that it was beautiful because my granny really loved me and my grandfather was really a father figure for me. He taught me all the lessons that I needed for this life. When my father tried to re-enter my life, my grandpa told me, “I know it must be hard for you to forgive this guy, but if you can learn anything from me, it’s to keep your heart clean”.

“He always emphasized two things. Number one, to keep my heart clean no matter what passions I chase. Number two, to never steal with your hands but to steal with your eyes, because that’s an artist’s most prized possession.”

The Sun Raise Initiative is a response to social ills that aims to support struggling students through various means. How did you hear about them, and what’s the story behind you receiving their support?

“I’ve always known Lois, and I’ve always known Andrea. We’ve always been in the same pockets of spaces because in Cape Town creative spaces, and they link up you know?”

“I think I was always doing stuff and being in places that were active, but it came about that I had student debt. And I didn’t know what the fuck to do bro. There was no certain structure for me, I couldn’t afford it myself, and my family couldn’t afford it too. Best bet was Back A Buddy. I was seeing how and what other students were doing and asked for help on socials. Eventually people started sharing, they were starting to donate, and dude I didn’t know people would pull through for me like that. Ey man, I sort of lost faith in humanity considering all the evils that’s happening, but that for me was crazy.”

“Eventually I saw online that Lois and Andrea were working together to start an organization that was funding students like me. Not only with debt but also with supplies, and by doing it through their own creativity. They set out to have fun through fundraising. I wasn’t really involved with the logistics or the planning. They just approached me and they told me they wanted to help me.”

“They wanted to do more than help share and repost my post. They wanted to actually get into the world and try and actually do something. But not only for me, because there are countless other students who don’t have stuff like towels, toothbrushes, soap. Like, the situation is actually that bad bro. So, I’m grateful.”

How did you react when you found out you graduated through Sun Raise?

“Yoh bro that was actually such a surreal moment. For a second, I never really believed it. In fact, let me actually tell you the story of how I got here.”

“So I got a departmental award from my department at UCT, because I had a bursary available. I got the award, but I didn’t manage to get accommodation. I tried to raise funds myself but it led to nothing until Sun Raise did their thing. They let me know, I even showed my girlfriend to look at this shit. I think now that I’m having this conversation with you, I’m realizing more and more that the struggle is over.”

“Having to raise that money yourself, without your family, without any kind of institutional help, just you and your mind, that takes you into some dark places bro. And for sure you can keep yourself afloat, but you know for a fact that the debt itself is there and its lurking in the back of your mind.”

“And you know what’s even more scary? It’s the fact that the only action at that point is a loan. And us people of colour know what loans have done to us. So now I’m standing at the doorsteps of banks trying to get a loan bro. You see what I mean? I went to Capitec and Standard Bank and for some reason, I couldn’t get it.”

Sun Raise community donation boxes - captured by @vuyopolson

“I went from all of that struggle, to finally being able to see my academic transcript. I couldn’t see my results up until this month. Up until Sun Raise. I got through it man, I checked my results, and I passed beautifully. So now I’m just more hopeful for the future. I think I’ve been through so many things in my life where I’m realizing maybe this life is for me bro. So far, I’ve survived all my bad days. No matter what happens, I know that there’s a community that is there to help you because they can connect with you and you can help them, and it’s just a whole mutual relationship for not only the partners, but everyone else that gets involved. It’s the power of community right there.”

You believed in the power of community – what about faith? And what does the future look like for you now that you’ve been given this opportunity?

“I’ve had so much free time to think about my future. I’m always thinking bro. I think I’ve always been someone who wants to create a change right. Changing my community, changing myself, and societal change. I just want to create change.”

“With my degree specifically, I feel like I’m equipped with so much knowledge about environmental sciences but also the politics behind it. I’m into conservation and people of colour have been excluded from conservation. I would absolutely love to work with an organisation that values this sort of perspective that I bring and this sort of creativity bro. If I can get the right community to vacuum what I have right now, we can do some real shit.”

“I’m going to start volunteering with South African National Parks and hopefully I’ll connect with someone there. I’ve already connected with the honorary ranger so he’s going to help me realise these things. I want to get students or learners from disadvantaged backgrounds, bring them over here, teach and tell them about the system, empower them, and to not give them a fish but to rather teach them how to fish.”

David and Lois at the One Park Sun Raise activation - Image by @rishi_prg

“And to your question of faith bro. I think when you look at the definition of faith, it is believing in the things that you can’t see. Trusting that whatever happens in this life and future is going to be for the best version of this timeline. I think that is something that can only be polished once you go through these adversities. When you go through a hard time, you’re going to hope for a better day in order for you to have something to think about and to escape that.”

“I believe in God bro; I truly believe in God. I only believed in God based off my own experiences in life and I believed in a divine being that created the cosmos, that created you and me. A sentient being that has given us the free will to create a world void of evil, which is hard to do. But at the same time, it has given me opportunities and favours in life. That’s how I’d like to think of the world because we get to give meaning to this life. If you think in a positive way, I think it attracts that positive energy back to you. So I think I just try to live off that and to me that’s faith.”

I share a part of that belief. For me, I believe in our ancestors, and that we will also eventually be ancestors for the future generations. You are the first in your lineage to have graduated. What does that mean to you and what does education mean to you?

“It’s very interesting that you ask this question because I have such a love-hate relationship with education. First of all, if it wasn’t for education I wouldn’t be able to sit here right now and to convey my thoughts efficiently and fluently. It has really helped me with literature, books, and all that sort of stuff. But I also feel like the wrong education can lead you to a whole life of misery without you even knowing. You will be so oblivious to that. You’ll think what you’re learning is the truth but really it’s indoctrination. That’s the sort of love-hate relationship I have. It’s true and I don’t think people understand.”

“Mandela told us education is the key to success. The more obtain, the better you can feed yourself and you can use that knowledge to give back to the community and to build things. For instance, I have a close friend, Tshivase. When he started V.DECLUTTER. It was his brain because he comes from a business-oriented family. I don’t know business, but he taught me business, he taught me how to interact with customers, how to sell clothes, how to make business partners, and I learned all the small things about business. And that wasn’t from like sitting down, I’d just analyse his behaviour, and I found myself absorbing that knowledge and using that to my abilities to set up other smaller businesses so that I could create some sort of income for myself. The reason why is because of education.”

“In a South African context, I went to a public school and they didn’t teach you shit. I didn’t know how to do a reference, they didn’t teach the things I’d need to know. Not to look down on retail workers, I think it’s an honest job, but they were teaching us along those lines instead of teaching us how to be independent with our own business mentality and beyond the box mentality.”

You don’t have to thank them because I’m sure they already feel it and know, but do you have any words for Sun Raise, for Lois and Andrea?

“Yeah, I obviously told them how grateful I am. But I think the expectation from me is obviously not communicated. How I could really say thank you to them is through my service bro. By helping them help other students and continue to build this to reach as many students as possible.”

“Giving back my time, my own resources, and my own creative thinking to support their cause grow to its biggest capacity. It’s not necessarily about students not having, but it’s pointing towards a system failure from our government.”

“So, I think to say thank you, I need to give my time and my service bro. Giving back would be such a valuable contribution to what they have given me as well you know.”

Life tends to get in the way of the things that really matter. When there exist so many cracks in system, we become focused on survival and not on living. It’s only natural, when at any moment you could slip through those cracks and fail to come up again. The anxieties take over, leaving you feeling cold. Which is why the warmth that Sun Raise radiates is something so incredibly beautiful.

Not only does it bring community together, but it also brings it together with intent. The intent to move, dance, sing and express for the betterment of someone else. A friend. A stranger. A person. It’s a sort of collective kindness that reminds us exactly what is important in life. Presence, people and community. It’s exactly those three pillars that got us here today, and its those same pillars that Andrea and Lois will continue to use to Raise the Sun.

David Arries And The Warmth of Sun Raise

Conor Hugo- Sound Producer, Scene Builder