The Trust has been partnering with Solomon Mahlangu High School in KwaNobuhle for the last few years. The partnership has helped many students to be able to pursue higher education as well as enter trade schools. While this is amazing, the principal Mr Mtengwana had the heart to see his former students who were still unemployed. Having heard this Ilse spoke with Kaya from Izenzo about starting a job club at the school to help these former students.
A training session was held where we were able to select two facilitators who would lead the club. These two young folks would host the twice-weekly meetings where they help each other to:
1. Identify ways to make quick cash
2. Understand how they can work towards their medium-term goals
3. Identify their long-term dreams and how they can work towards them.
This initial meeting had a fair amount of success where half the group was able to find some form of employment. Those who felt more entrepreneurial set up a tuck shop at their former school.
A second meeting was held which led to both Zikhona and Nkosomzi obtaining employment – with Mr Price and GET in the brand new shopping centre in Kariega, formerly known as Uitenhage. Although Nkosomzi’s contract with Mr Price was only for a month over the Christmas period he was later requested to work for the month of February as the manager had been so impressed by his work ethic and good customer relations.
At the beginning of 2022 we had another training session with the facilitators Zikhona Ncete and Nkosomzi Morris to prep for the upcoming year. They were very passionate and excited for the year ahead. That passion and drive have played out in an incredible manner with them not only finding work for some of the members of the group but also doing lots of initiatives to build relationships with local businesses in the community who now let them know when employment opportunities appear. It is amazing to see the impact this is having which includes three more former learners joining the meetings.
With how big the problem of unemployment is in South Africa we are glad to have found a way to make an impact through our partnerships with Izenzo, Solomon Mahlangu, and Joy To The Nations.
We look forward to a bright future with this initiative.