2 NEWS
INDABA | WEDNESDAY 3 DECEMBER 2014
Candles for Sakhumzi to ignite his career BETTIE GILIOMEE A YOUNG man from Joe Slovo who managed to overcome many obstacles to study psychology so that he could one day also help people, is the second recipient of the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) Trust’s Bursary Legacy campaign.
Siviwe Mbele (18), (left) and Sakhumzi Dukwe (19) are the first and second recipients respectively of the NMMU Trust Light a Candle Ignite a Career Bursary Campaign. PHOTO:BETTIE GILIOMEE
The trust last week officially announced Sakhumzi Dukwe (19), who has just completed his first year in BA Psychology, as the recipient. The first recipient was Siviwe Mbele who has also just completed her first year at NMMU in BSc Information Systems. The bursary of R25 000 was thanks to 50 people who each contributed R500 to the campaign with the slogan “Light a Candle, Ignite a Career”. Mbele describes his mom, Sindiswa, as his biggest inspiration. She had to raise him and his sister on her own after his father passed away when he was six years old.
He had already excelled at primary school attending the Joe Slovo Primary School where in grade 7 he received a bursary from the African Scholarship Fund to attend the S.E.K. Mqhayi Senior Secondary School from which he matriculated last year. “My mom is my biggest motivation. She has sacrificed a lot to give me a good education. Her example motivates me to only do my best,” said Sakhumzi. According to Sakhumzi, at school a lot of emphasis was placed on studying towards a career in engineering, but that was not where his interest lies. “My passion is people. I want to get an in-depth knowledge of people so that I can help them to empower themselves – to give them the resources to help themselves. My other passion is business and I hope to combine these two passions in my career one day. The first recipient, Siviwe, said the bursary not only empowered her, but that her story has
given hope to fellow students too. She recently received an email from a student who lost both his parents. He said he could easily have fallen into using drugs and a bad lifestyle but her story motivated and inspired him to concentrate on his studies and pursue his tertiary education. Renita Affat, CEO of the NMMU Trust, said they hoped to award these bursaries to 8 more students. According to Affat any corporation, business, group, club or individual can light a candle at a cost of R500 to contribute to the bursary. “This is not a traditional type of bursary. It goes beyond just donating. It is a unique programme with interactive social media platforms allowing those who donated to have direct contact and interaction with the recipient, follow his or her progress and give input to help shape his or her career,” said Affat. To pledge, phone tracy@outsidethebox.co.za. Visit the Trust’s website http://trust.nmmu.ac.za or follow the campaign ‘Bursary Legacy Campaign’ on Facebook.
Learners drive for change in their communities REPORTER WHILE most of PE’s learners begin their summer holidays this week, 80 learners from 33 schools across Nelson Mandela Bay are attending a three-day annual summit to help find practical solutions for safety and crime prevention in their communities. Like most provinces in South Africa, the Eastern Cape is battling with high rates of crime and violence. One of the major challenges faced by young people in the Metro is the high youth unemployment rate and poverty, which leads to the attraction of youth to a life of crime.
The Youth for Safer Communities (YSC) project is an initiative, which began in 2012, through collaboration between Masifunde Learner Development and GIZ. The project aims to encourage young people to recognise the role that they can play in the creation of community safety. The focus of this year’s Youth For Safer Communities summit is to come up with practical solutions to the challenges which the Mandela Bay’s Municipal Community Safety Forum (CSF) has come across. The school delegates are looking at the CSF’s challenges, the major causes of crime and violence in Nelson Mandela Bay and discuss what the youth could do to help solve
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these challenges. The YSC schools will then put together a plan of action for 2015 and present it on the last day of the Summit. One of the participants from Walmer High School, 16-year-old Sanelisiwe Dick said she has been absorbing all the information she is learning from the programme like a sponge and she will then in turn impart the information to other learners at her school. Yonela Maposa from Newell High School said the information he is gaining at the summit will also help improve the lives of his peers at school and the community. “Learning about the social ills such as crime and how we as the youth can help alleviate these problems is a great strength for me. I have realised my role as a youth leader and I depend on my fellow peers at school also realising roles they can take to achieve a better and safer community for all,” said Maposa. Rene Uren from GIZ which are the funders of the summit said their main purpose is to build capacity and ensure the creation of a safer community. “There are several workshops which we conduct annually which focus on crime prevention as the key element. The main objective of this summit is to impart valuable ideas and information to these young leaders at
a very crucial stage of their lives so they grow up with the know-how and are also able to come up with their own ideas and functionality to best suit their communities,” said Uren. Linda Zali from Masifunde Learner Development said the young delegates would also be encouraged to act as local heroes next year. “ They must work at becoming change makers in their schools and in turn in their communities,” said Zali. Zali said when the year ended in 2015 they would have another summit to discuss and evaluate each other on the different changes they had made individually in their communities and at school as change maker heroes. “The aim of Youth For Safer Communities is for learners to become change-makers (active role models) inspiring change within their communities by initiating extra-curricular projects and activities such as drama, debating and empowerment through mentors and peer helpers. The hope is that these initiatives will give our youth something constructive, meaningful and positive to do with their time, thereby keeping them off the streets and helping reduce the rate of crime in their communities.” said Zali. For info on Masifunde contact 041 581 2543.
Pictured, back from left, are Rene Uren from GIZ, Shane Mangcangaza, Edem Foli, Linda Zali and Jonas Schumacher from Masifunde Learner Development, with learners Sanelisiwe Dick and Yonela Maposa in front.
PHOTO:LIZEKA TANDWA
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