The Hawk Newspaper

07/10/2025

Latte champion Vincent Majola took his first sip of coffee at the age of 18. At the time, he was cleaning tables at a South African coffee chain, Mugg & Bean, and said he knew nothing about coffee, but that was about to change.

Now 30, Majola has become a latte art expert, creating designs on the surface of cups of coffee using steamed milk and microfoam. With an ever-growing passion, he can turn the top of a latte into an ostrich, eagle, dragon or African lion, to name a few.

🔗 Read the full story here: https://sjuhawknews.com/37521/showcase/double-shots-and-dreams/

📝 Carlina Hershock ’26
📸 Helena Sims ’25

DURBAN, South Africa – Latte champion Vincent Majola took his first sip of coffee at the age of 18. At the time, he was cleaning tables at a South African coffee chain, Mugg & Bean, and said he knew nothing about coffee. But as Majola, now 30, witnessed the baristas making cappuccinos, he was capt...

07/08/2025

Over 850 participants met June 28 for the weekly North Beach parkrun on the Durban beachfront.

They walked, they ran, they carried babies and canes. For most people, community was what brought them to the event.

Parkrun is an international event, with runs hosted in 21 different countries, including the U.S. They are free and volunteer-led. Participants can walk or run a 2K or 5K course. The first parkrun took place in 2004 in the London suburb of Teddington with 13 participants and five volunteers.

Parkrun first launched in South Africa in 2011 in Johannesburg. There are currently 225 parkrun events held every Saturday morning all over South Africa.

Reported and filmed by Carlina Hershock ’26 and Helen Monek ’26
Edited by Carlina Hershock ’26

07/01/2025

Amid a well-known stretch of antique shops that line Long Road is the storefront for a company called Upcycle that makes the old new again.

Upcycle’s mission is to transform non-recyclable waste into usable items. It sells aprons, glass art, lamp shades, hair accessories, planters and blankets, all handmade and upcycled from trash.

Upcycle also focuses on community involvement, teaching people in local townships how to create Upcycle products.

🔗 Read the full story here: https://sjuhawknews.com/37447/showcase/company-teaches-community-to-turn-trash-to-treasure/

📝 Carlina Hershock ’26
📸 Helena Sims ’25

RANDBURG, South Africa – Amid a well-known stretch of antique shops that line Long Road is the storefront for a company called Upcycle that makes the old new again. Upcycle creates and sells a wide selection of items handmade from non-recyclable waste. While upcycling may sound similar to recyclin...

06/27/2025

When Nonhlanhla “Noni” Moroenyane first arrived in Johannesburg from the Eastern Cape as a 9-year-old girl, her dreams were about survival, not about cooking. Certainly, she never dreamed of becoming a celebrated chef.

Known today as Chef Noni, Moroenyane, 40, used what she learned from her great-grandmother to become a celebrated indigenous food revivalist in Johannesburg, herbal healer and founder of her own culinary business, Noni’s Home Dish.

🔗 Read the full story here: https://sjuhawknews.com/37451/showcase/cooking-up-the-magic-of-love/

📝 Cara Santilli ’24, M.A. ’26
📸 Maximilian Murphy ’26 and Helena Sims ’25

JOHANNESBURG – When Nonhlanhla “Noni” Moroenyane first arrived in Johannesburg from the Eastern Cape in 1994 as a 9-year-old girl, her dreams were about survival, not about cooking. Certainly, she never dreamed of becoming a celebrated chef. The word “chef” didn’t even exist in her villa...

06/26/2025

Say “Eldorado Park” in the Johannesburg area, and many people will think of drugs, crime and poverty. But the people who live there know a different story, one you can hear by listening to ELDOS-FM, the town’s community radio station.

The station is run solely by the community, for the community. Listeners can tune in to 87.6 FM for music and talk shows, and the station also provides clothes, food, donations and more to members of the community.

🔗 Read the full story here: https://sjuhawknews.com/37449/showcase/tuning-into-people/

📝 Helena Sims ’25
📸 Finnegan Crowley ’27
🎨 Finnegan Crowley ’27

ELDORADO PARK, South Africa – Say “Eldorado Park” in the Johannesburg area, and many people will think of drugs, crime and poverty. In fact, poverty, crime and gang violence are significant challenges in Eldorado Park. But the people who live there know a different story, one you can hear by l...

06/25/2025

At any one time, there are usually about 80 animals at CLAW, half being cared for in the clinic and half awaiting adoption.

CLAW is an animal welfare organization located in an old mining camp in Durban Deep, an area 12 miles west of Johannesburg. The organization provides vaccination and sterilization for cats and dogs, takes in injured and abandoned animals, facilitates adoptions, and educates and provides resources to its surrounding community — all with no running water or electricity.

🔗 Read the full story here: https://sjuhawknews.com/37414/showcase/there-are-too-many-animals-and-not-enough-homes/

📝 Helen Monek ’26
📸 Carlina Hershock ’26 and Sahr Karimu ’26

ROODEPOORT, South Africa – The volunteers weren’t even looking for Mama when they found her at an illegal mining site in Durban Deep, an area 12 miles west of Johannesburg that was once home to a now-defunct gold mine. They had been tipped off about another dog that had been shot in the face and...

06/24/2025

Rose Thamae founded community organization Let Us Grow in 1996 to provide support for those with human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV positive people, and domestic violence survivors living in Orange Farm.

Today, the program’s funding is diminished as a result of the Trump administration’s January 2025 cuts to U.S. foreign aid programs, including the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).

Let Us Grow depended heavily on these programs to implement many of its HIV prevention and treatment services in Orange Farm, a township located 28 miles south of Johannesburg.

🔗 Read the full story here: https://sjuhawknews.com/37429/news/us-funding-cuts-devastate-hiv-prevention-efforts-in-south-africa-township/

📝 Cara Santilli ’24, M.A. ’26
📸 Sahr Karimu ’26

ORANGE FARM, South Africa – Rose Thamae was once able to employ 30 people in the men’s division of Let Us Grow, a community organization she founded in 1996 to provide support for human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV positive people, and domestic violence survivors living in Orange Farm. Today, ...

06/21/2025

Go behind the scenes of The Hawk’s coverage of Youth Day and more in Orange Farm, South Africa.

Designed by Finnegan Crowley ’27

06/20/2025

Spaza shops are informal convenience stores in townships throughout South Africa.

The Hawk takes you to three spaza shops in Orange Farm, located 28 miles south of Johannesburg. In the late 1980s, evicted farm workers began building shacks on land adjacent to a provincial highway, soon creating a vast informal settlement that became the township of Orange Farm.

Spaza shop owners told us how they survive amid a high unemployment rate, high levels of crime and minimal basic community services.

Reported and edited by Carlina Hershock ’26 and Helen Monek ‘26

06/17/2025

June 16, or Youth Day, is a national holiday in South Africa that commemorates the young people who were ambushed and killed by police in Soweto on June 16, 1976, during a peaceful protest against the apartheid government’s decision to mandate instruction in Afrikaans in all schools. What would be known as the Soweto Uprising became a turning point in the struggle against apartheid.

A Youth Day celebration was held June 16, 2025 at the Wisdom of Jesus Ministries in Orange Farm, a densely populated township created under apartheid that is located 28 miles south of Johannesburg. Members of the community attended a morning of programming, which included singing and dancing by local school children. The Hawk asked the children what Youth Day means to them, what it means to be a young person in South Africa and what their dreams are.

Reported and edited by Helena Sims ’25

06/12/2025

Mia Messina ’25 has always been a routine-oriented person. She was the type of kid who felt anxious to get back to school after a long summer break because she craved the routine and structure.

Messina’s Google Calendar is coded in 19 different colors, with things like “eat” and “shower” mapped out when her life gets really busy. She considers herself an expert in routines.

So, when Mel Robbins, New York Times best-selling author, went viral for what she markets as the “perfect” morning and evening routines, Messina decided to give them a go for a few days and learn more about which routines work best for her.

Read the full story and see Messina’s final verdict on Mel Robbins’ routines here: https://sjuhawknews.com/37338/showcase/viral-tiktok-routine-not-quite-a-bust/

📝 and 📸 by Mia Messina ’25/The Hawk

I’ve always been a routine-oriented person. I was the type of kid who felt anxious to get back to school after a long summer break because I craved the routine and structure of it. My Google Calendar is coded in 19 different colors, with things like “eat” and “shower” mapped out when my li...

06/09/2025

For one week in mid-April, Eddie Dolan ’25 made a choice: he would leave his decisions up to a Magic 8 Ball.

Even with a few ground rules in place — no ignoring important responsibilities or hygiene, and no harmful, inappropriate or illegal activity — Dolan quickly realized just how many decisions he makes in a day. Everything was left up to chance: what to eat for breakfast, when to do his homework, where to hang out.

While the lack of agency over his life decisions caused some stress during the first few days, Dolan eventually found himself learning to relax and appreciate some aspects of his new, freeform lifestyle. He found himself spending time in new places with a larger variety of people, which offered an appreciated change of pace.

Tap the link below to read more about Dolan’s decision to rely on chance: https://sjuhawknews.com/37352/showcase/should-you-read-this-story-about-making-decisions/

📝 and 📸 by Eddie Dolan ’25

“Do I have your permission to write this article?” I asked the plastic billiard ball. Pale, white letters floated to the surface: “As I see it, yes.” When isolated, decisions such as these seem minor, but they add up to a staggering number. The average American adult makes 35,000 decisions e...