Camps, courses help young people learn skills, find work

[caption id="attachment_100477" align="alignright" width="295"] IN THE SWING: Members of a dance troupe perform during the youth camp at the Green Fountain farm near Port Alfred. Picture: FREDLIN ADRIAAN[/caption]

A GOVERNMENT-sponsored initiative to give marginalised young adults across the country the chance to realise their dreams and find work is paying dividends in the Eastern Cape.

This emerged yesterday at the opening of the annual Social Development provincial youth camp in Port Alfred.

About 200 young hopefuls aged between 18 and 24 are being taught valuable life skills in the hope that they will return home and use them to build cohesive, caring and sustainable communities.

The camps started in 2012 and are held at the Green Fountain farm near Port Alfred.

Although the five-day camps also involve fun activities like horse-riding and swimming, they are designed to take participants out of their comfort zones and encourage team work, social cohesion, leadership and crosscultural interaction.

Provincial Department of Social Development head of department Stanley Khanyile said the camp was a platform for people to speak about their challenges.

The youth dialogues and camps had helped many young people from childheaded homes, the disabled and poverty-stricken people turn their lives around.

A programme started last year at Stenden South Africa – an internationally renowned Dutch hospitality university with campuses around the world, including Port Alfred – had already helped almost 30 people involved with the dialogues and youth camps.

They found work after they completed a one-year chef course in the resort town.

Makoboko, said 26 of the 30 people accepted into the Social Development-sponsored course got work in restaurants “all over the province” after graduating last year.

Mbulelo Faltein, 20, of Bizana, said the course had “taught me the importance of not giving up on your dreams”. -Siphokuhle Mkancu and David Macgregor