The Duke and Duchess of Sussex started off Day Two of their African tour with a visit to South Africa’s Monwabisi Beach. The couple met with the organization Waves For Change, which facilitates hundreds of local youth coming to the beach to surf on a weekly basis and provides mental health and mentoring support.
The couple sat in on one of the group’s sessions, including a “Power Hands” exercise which is meant to promote positive thinking. Royal reporter Emily Andrews shared video:
Harry & Meghan take part in a ‘Power Hands’ ceremony which promotes positive thinking with @WavesforChange pic.twitter.com/SM1qkNpZT2
— Emily Andrews (@byEmilyAndrews) September 24, 2019
While on the beach, Harry & Meghan also met with the Lunchbox Fund, one of the charities they nominated to benefit from gifts when their son, Archie, was born this spring. The organization donates nearly 30,000 meals across South Africa, including for three Waves For Change projects…hence the overlap today.
At one point Meghan was asked what the most pressing global challenge was, and she replied:
“It’s just getting people to talk about it and talk to each other, right? And you see that no matter where you are in the world, if you’re a small community or a Township, if you’re in a big city – it’s that everyone is dealing with a different version of the same thing.
“Globally I think there’s a bit of a consciousness crisis, and so the fact we’re able to be here together to see on the ground so much good work that’s being done, just because people are willing to talk to each other about it and someone’s willing to listen is huge. And that can apply to being here, certainly can apply to being in London, LA – doesn’t matter where you are, we’re all sort of trying to power through and find some optimism.”
As for what message the Sussexes are trying to get across:
“I think what’s amazing about being here today as you can see, there’s so much good happening in the world, and there’s so much positivity and all of this diversity and inclusivity – think the focus is on that.”
Harry’s response:
“I think most of the stigma is around mental illness, we need to separate the two… mental health, which is every single one of us, and mental illness, which could be every single one of us. But I think they need to be separated, the mental health element touches on so much of what we’re exposed to, these experiences that these kids and every single one of us have been through.
“Everyone has experienced trauma or likely to experience trauma at some point during their lives. We need to try, not eradicate it, but to learn from previous generations so there’s not a perpetual cycle. What’s amazing here just in a day and half – barely – conversations keep happening with all sorts of different people. So they’ve been through it and we can learn so much from that.”
As for fashion, Meghan wore a Madewell denim jacket over a linen J.Crew shirt she’s worn before. I’ve not seen a definitive ID on her jeans, but her flats are Brother Vellies. As far as beach apparel goes, I’m calling this is a win because at least it’s not that trench coat she kept calling back during the Oz tour! In all seriousness, though, I think this worked. The flats helped tie this look back to the venue, and the jeans probably made it easy to engage with the children and sit in the sand, etc.
The couple left the venue separately, with Harry jetting off to another engagement and Meghan returning back to home base to check on Archie. As we speak they’re in the midst of their next joint engagement, so I’m off to cover that!