SAYes Youth Mentoring Programmes South Africa

My mentee is shy. In a room of young people just like him his voice drowns. In fact he doesn’t contribute at all. He says he prefers to let the other kids lead – they know more than he does. During a game of chess, he comes out of his shell. His knight corners my queen just as I sacrificed my bishop to lure his king. It’s checkmate. This is the third time he’s beaten me since we’ve started to play a few weeks ago. We high five in a rush of emotion. He does a quick sprint around his chair and another little dance. Winning puts a sparkle in his eye. In each game he uses a different strategy to manipulate my army and gain my surrender. He gets it. There is more than one way to reach your goal.

“So, what’s your favourite thing to cook?” I ask my mentee. “Scrambled eggs!” he replies, “I can’t really cook anything else”. “So, what do you like to eat?” I ask. “Spaghetti, sausage, tomatoes, corn…” “That’s a lot!” I interrupt. A few days later, we visit the the Biscuit Mill and go through all the various food groups followed by a tour of the food section. To my mentee’s disbelief there are hundreds of different foods from places all around the world. Each stand has its own style of making food. Every flavour more delicious than the next. People are thrilled by the fact that he is interested in their cuisines and offer him tasters to fall in love with. Later that day we cook some vegetables from the market and he assures me that he is going to teach himself how to cook meals from his own culture.