By Khanyisa Hlohla | Project Manager
MANKOSI SKILLS DEVELOPMENT CENTER REPORT FROM JANUARY TO JUNE 2021
Introduction
The Mankosi community is in rural areas of South Africa. SDC deals with youth unemployment and poverty, it also empowering youth to take care of themselves. It will offer individuals the right program that provides them with insight in the possibility of job opportunities and a sustainable income. This way the Mankosi youth will provide for themselves and gain confidence in the community.
My name is Khanyisa, one of the SDC managers. This document is intended to give an update on what has been done so far.
The sewing project
The sewing project is a powerful learning space to bring experts, teachers, and learners together so that the youth can create sustainable income through sewing. Nosphelele and Nolethu are our trained seamstress of the Skills Development Centre. They already learned so many techniques including how to work with an electric sewing machine and overlocker. The sewing project is still situated in Khanyisa s home as we are busy building our Skills Development Center. The sewing ladies are busy sewing clothes to sell in the community to get income. We are pleased to report that Nosphlele and Nolethu are creating a very good income for themselves. This shows that sewing can enhance income and fight unemployment in our area.
Adult education and Training
On the 15th of February 2021, we opened the education center again to welcome our new Adult Education and Training class. 10 new youth from Mankosi registered to do their NQF Level 4 which will enable them to access tertiary education in the future. 4 qualified teachers from the Department of Higher Education teaching English, Xhosa, Maths, and various focus subjects like Auxillary Health Care, Tourism and Business Management.
On the 23rd of February the results for the previous year came out and the students and we were very disappointed with the results. Unfortunately, all of our 17 students failed their exams. This shows us how much work there is to uplift the standard of education in rural areas. Khanyisa and the teachers talked to our students and encouraged them not to give up. It was an extremely hard year as Covid disrupted the school year so badly. We are happy to report that 11 students decided to repeat. They studied hard and 6 wrote their supplementary exams in June 2021 already. We hope they will receive good news at the end of July when their results come out again.
The Skills Development Center upgraded all the learning guides and books to help the AET class succeed. We also spend a generous amount on stationary like writing books, pens, files, and calculators to facilitate the best learning outcomes.
We were lucky to have Stuart with us for 4 months who volunteered his time to teach our AET students how to use a computer and the internet. These skills are invaluable for the community and their future. We are hoping for more volunteers to come and help us.
SDC Building progress
The SDC building has made great progress in the last 6 months. We are happy to report that we were able to build the pillars and put the roof on. We also plastered all the walls from the inside and outside. It truly looks amazing and our local builders really did a good job. The aluminum doors and windows have been ordered and will arrive in the next 10 days. We are very excited as we can start moving into the building then.
Agroecology and Microfinance
In June 2021 the Farmer group of Qolweni received their Microfinance Loan of R 35 000 to start their farming project. 40 farmers from the area will work on a 1 ha piece of land. They have cleared the weeds and rocks and dug the holes for the fence poles already. Water will be pumped from a nearby stream to irrigate the land. In the winter months, they will plant spinach, cabbage, and sweet potatoes. The loan will be paid back, interest-free over the next 4 years. The produce will be sold in the community and nearby shops.
Conclusion
Despite Covid 19 and the very tough times, we are keeping on fighting for the youth of South Africa. I would like to thank our donors for helping us in this hard time with this disease that has blocked our country.
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