Building Youth For The Next Generation Leaders

Young South Africans face a lot of challenges: young women (aged 15-24)  teenage pregnancy at shocking levels, and violence and gender-based violence aggravate this and poverty.
Working with the community's families of orphaned and vulnerable children, it has become increasingly obvious that working with the children/youth is insufficient on its own. Bringing hope for future generations of South Africans has to start at home. Supporting their parents with finding healing from their own childhood baggage, guiding them in better relationships with their children, and giving them skills in guiding and parenting the next generation into a brighter future were key goals of the camps.
Thembalethu has recently had a of two different three-night residential camps held for 88 parents for the grandmothers and guardians of children in our Orphaned and Vulnerable Children Program. These camps had tremendous impact in the community, but let the grandmothers tell you their own stories.

Helping those in need

Reports from care-supporters confirmed our research findings that, in order to make a definitive and lasting impact in supporting affected families and those who find themselves living in poverty, we needed to offer a holistic support service that met social needs as well as generating income. Many people indicated that they preferred to stay in their own communities rather than look for work in the cities, but with limited employment opportunities in our community, migrant labor becomes a necessity, and this in turn, leads to disrupted family life.

So we started a program of training young people in business skills and focused on sustainable small businesses using natural based resources and eco-friendly practices.

We assisted and mentored entrepreneurs in beekeeping, growing and selling mushrooms, arts and crafts, organic gardening and we started a range of cosmetics using marula oil as the base. We also taught how to make and bottle marula "atchar" which is a popular local chutney.

The entrepreneurs

Needs identified

• The level of unemployment in the Nkomazi is very high. The 2011 census figures indicate that the youth unemployment level is over 42%. - and in previous years this was higher
• Government (child) grants are not available to all affected people
• Food security is a major problem
• People must follow good nutrition and a healthy lifestyle to ensure that they do not succumb to opportunistic diseases, such as TB (tuberculosis)
• The oldest siblings of child-headed houses need income-generating opportunities

What we learnt

Establishing businesses in under-developed communities is challenging for a number of reasons.

We learnt that in the initial stages of the business, the costs of purchasing raw material and the overheadexpenses, such as transport, made the finished product noncompetitive as the market wasn't in the local community.

We learnt skills training could only be undertaken if there was donor funding to carry it.

We learnt it was difficult to compete against established craft outlets for tourist products.

We learnt that in order to sustain the arts and craft business we needed Government contracts and we were unable to secure these.

We learnt it was challenging for the youth to understand the necessity for efficiency and productivity

We learnt it takes time for local communities to "try" new products, for example our cosmetic range. This is often due to households with low income levels preferring to stick to what they know and it's hard to justify buying an untried product.

We learnt the importance of establishing enterprises such as these to meet the needs in a community suffering from extra-ordinary unemployment levels.

What we did

• We set up a component (desk) under the Youth-in-Action to help train and establish small businesses.
• In collaboration with SSACI and under facilitator, Mr Lynn Hurry, we started a natural resource based Wildly African arts and craft shop and training center.
• We trained and set up 6 youth in 6 different villages to run their own mushroom growing huts
• We trained and set up 6 youth in 3 villages to start with honey production through beekeeping
• We trained over 100 youth in various skills including how to run a business
• We trained over 68 youth in arts and craft production and marketed the products to both tourists and Government departments. We also attended markets and exhibitions in Johannesburg and Nelspruit.
• The garden project provided families with both food, and income from the sale of surplus vegetables in the market.

"I used to think that I couldn't have any dreams for my life because I'm unemployed. But now I see that I have hope and I'm not alone - that I have a future. I want to become a social worker so that I can help others too."
- Girl, 17 years old

"SUASA is my hope and I am so glad that I know them because what they are teaching us is so helpful to me.  I remember what I've learned at camp, and I decide to continue taking them and not give up."
- Boy, 14 years old