Career day guides local children towards a better future

“Every power that carries excellence is in you.”

That was the message delivered at the Kuyasa Career Day in Kayamandi on the 13th of May.

The invite to the Kuyasa Career Day that took place in Kayamandi.

The invite to the Kuyasa Career Day that took place in Kayamandi.

As part of their Leadership Development Program, Kuyasa Horizon Empowerment held a career day in which they motivated grade 10 to 12 learners from Kayamandi to finish matric, and to pursue tertiary education.

Kuyasa’s mission is to empower children from disadvantaged communities by developing their leadership skills and to motivate them to spread these values to their peers.

The NGO provides various programmes for the Kayamandi youth – from arts to sport to occupational training. They also offer a sponsorship program where charitable organisations can sponsor a child to go to school or university.

According to the head of the Kuyasa leadership program, Sibathemba Dada, the organisation plays a massive role in helping learners stay in school and provides them with opportunities to pursue careers.

The career day started with talks by motivational speakers from the community who had finished matric and obtained university or college degrees. Afterwards, learners could speak to representatives from different universities and other tertiary institutions about applications and funding.

“I remember the days we used to have to walk to Stellenbosch University’s open day to see what we wanted to study,” says Amanda Ghoqi, a second year BA student. “Now they come here, it’s so easy, I wish people would come.”

Different tertiary institutions were involved at the career day, including Stellenbosch University, UNISA (University of South Africa), CPUT (Cape Town University of Technology), and the film school, AFDA. Kuyasa ensure that a wide variety of tertiary institutions were represented for learners to have options.– Lida Malherbe