The second meeting of the Ndlambe Development Initiative (NDI) took place at the Port Alfred High School hall last Wednesday, but few members were available to attend having had prior commitments
Those in attendance were Laura Guest from the school, Bongani Bavuma from Stenden, Jan Blom from Nemato Change a Life (NCAL), Temba Tele from Confident Girls and Kuyasa Combined School deputy principal Lulamile Mxube, along with founder of the initiative, Nicholas Rawhani.
Discussions mostly centred on youth unemployment, education and training. Also discussed were the means by which young people can further their education after high school, and how they can get access and awareness of ways to apply for both education and funding (through the NSFAS programme).
Blom spoke of his careers fair that took place the previous week and that NCAL will be hosting another one next August. He said he’d bring the needs of his organisation to the next meeting.
Guest reported that the education department responded to PAHS and told them their classrooms won’t be built until at least 2021. Guest is now figuring out how PAHS can get those extra two classrooms built themselves.
Tele is preparing to launch Confident Girls in a number of schools around Ndlambe from next year and has linked up with Guest to involve a women’s empowerment training program into the confident girls repertoire. Tele said he is also concerned about the treatment of young survivors of sexual abuse, an involved topic that will have to be picked up at a subsequent meeting.
Bavuma and Guest have also linked up to try and pilot an after-school tutoring program for kids at PAHS through tutors from Stenden.
Rawhani suggested the possibility of those of involved in gardening projects and youth training to consider funding a group to go to the same gardening training that Minet Nojoko attended in Port Elizabeth.
The next meeting of NDI will take place on December 5.
