Learners from Lavender Hill and surrounding areas received career guidance during an educational programme hosted at Prince George Primary on Wednesday 29 June.
Dorothy Soetwater, representative of Hope Pentecostal and one of the event organisers, said it was important for learners to use opportunities made available to them.
“Our programme today is about our children; it is an educational programme to change and transform our children’s minds because many of them leave school and don’t even know what they want to do with their life. We have the MEC of education, in partnership with Hope Pentecostal, Siyazana and the ANC.”
Around 60 learners in Grade 8 to 12 from Lavender Hill, Cafda, Montague Village, Cuba Heights and Hillview attended the programme.
“There are many shootings here in Lavender Hill and our children are so afraid. Today we want our youth to feel a bit special and we want to entertain them. “We want them to sit back and relax and be entertained and feel that they are loved,” said Soetwater.
Muhammad Khalid Sayed, ANC’s shadow minister for education in the Western Cape, encouraged learners to study and not to allow others to hold them back from their goals and dreams. “You are already showing, just by being here today, that you have the potential to be the leaders of tomorrow. Don’t let anybody tell you that whatever you decide during these years of schooling, that what you want to become, you cannot be because you are in Lavender Hill. No-one must tell you that because it can be done.”
He later shared his own life experience of growing up in Athlone and how some did not believe in his dreams.
“I grew up in Athlone, I wanted to be a politician, not for the bad reasons. I wanted to see myself in parliament one day and be active as a leader. Some teachers and learners made fun of that dream and said, ‘You think you are Thabo Mbeki’.
“But then I linked up with people who gave encouragement.”
Sayed further encouraged young people to believe in themselves.
“Obviously it is important to put food on the table and have a nice home, have children and get married. “But you also want to be an example to others who come after you. You want to support your families but you need to believe in yourself.
“Don’t think that important roles, whether it is in politics or lawyers, doctors and accountants are there only for certain age-group categories. The country is getting younger.”
Meanwhile, Simphiwe Silwana from the ANC Youth League, who grew up in the care of his grandmother, said having an education is very important. “I am from Nyanga. My grandmother is the person who raised me and I am from quite an impoverished background.
“My mother was arrested when I was very young for drug trafficking so I grew up with my grandmother who was a domestic worker in Simon’s Town.
“Luckily the people she was working for took me in.”
Siswana urged learners to use the opportunities open to them. “Lavender Hill is an area which we all know has rife gangsterism, abuse and issues in the community which affect young people.
“You see this in all of our townships on the Cape Flats where young people have to go, each and every day, not knowing whether there would be gunshots and that’s the kind of pressures we find ourselves in.”
Silwana added that getting a good education is a stepping stone to the next stage of life for young people.
“I was speaking to a friend of mine, after what happened in East London where more than 20 young people passed on (in a tavern) and the youngest was 13. That happens across our community, where we have young people who have nothing much to do than go to these places and find comfort either in gangsterism, abusive boyfriends or drinking at the age of 13.”
Quoting Steven Biko, Silwana said: “He says life in our townships is a daily battle to make sure we get to adulthood.
“I understand this because I come from Nyanga, I know it is a daily battle to actually be an adult. You don’t know if you walk down the street what is going to happen. You don’t know when you go home if there is an uncle waiting who is a predator.
“We don’t know whether when you go to school that you are going with a full stomach. So, what does this mean?
“It means that in our communities we have challenges, but the mere fact that you got up today and came here to listen means that you are taking a certain step into owning a lit bit of what you can own of your life.”
Marilyn Isaacs, from MI Community Services in Cafda, urged young people to seek help if they are facing abuse.
“I want to say to you today as young people, look ahead towards your future. Look outside, the people here today are people who care.
“Today I want to ask, make use of the opportunity to talk to us when there is a problem. We don’t always want to talk to our mother or father at home or brother and sister when there is a problem.
“Speak up and ask for help, you have the full right to speak up when you are unhappy. We do not have to live with heartache. You do not have to live in fear because there are people like us who can help.”
