A look through the various media platforms will highlight the various challenges that South Africa faces such as, unemployment, inequality, health challenges, poor education and training, crime and abuse of drugs. However, a story such as that of Thulani Madondo, the 30 year old who heads this exceptional community upliftment initiative called The Kliptown Youth Programme, reminds us that there are as many good news stories of inspirational South Africans.
Madondo co-founded the Kliptown Youth Programme after identifying the need to provide a means to inspire and change lives in the troubled Soweto community. Through education, the initiative’s mission is to eradicate the poverty of mind, body, and soul and to fight against the disadvantages imposed on the children of Kliptown by providing educational support and after school activities.
The public and private sector, civil society, young people and South Africans in general all have an important role to play in alleviating South Africa’s challenges. We were therefore thrilled to hear about Thulani, a young man who saw an opportunity to make difference. Thulani is also the perfect example of what we refer to as “Limitless Youth.” These “Limitless Youth” have a get up and go attitude and make a mental decision not to focus on their limitations, but rather on their potentials.
The NYDA is running the “Limitless Youth Campaign” that focusses on instilling a positive mind set of being limitless among young people. We have seen, that even though they bear the brunt of much of the country’s unemployment and poverty, the nation’s youth are showing that their potential far outweighs their limitations and that they are capable of contributing positively to the country.
Through the limitless youth campaign we are therefore also profiling inspirational young people such as Thulani so that other young people who feel hopeless and don’t see the end of the tunnel, can be motivated to dream big and take action. This action means grabbing with both hands the opportunities that South Africa provides, this starts as an example with knowing where and how to get more information on the NYDA so as to access youth-orientated programmes, products and services offering of the NYDA or tangible programmes, products and services offerings that is accessible via the private sector, public sector and/or civil society.
We also recently hosted the inaugural South African Youth Awards in July which were a resounding success. With the theme 'Against All Odds', the primary objective of the SA Youth Awards is to provide a platform to showcase the exceptional work and contribution that young people are making in their communities and the world and to tell inspiring stories of youth who have achieved extra ordinary merits, despite odds and the challenges. The awards also seek to recognise individuals and organisations that have made an outstanding contribution to youth development. This is a platform that we acknowledge has been long overdue because there are thousands of young people who deserve recognition for their accomplishments, particularly in the midst of the challenges some of them face on a daily basis. We believe that this form of acknowledgement motivates and inspires other young people by demonstrating that extraordinary things can come out of even the bleakest situations. As a country, we must mainstream youth development by supporting individuals and organisations that contribute to advance the youth agenda. The most sought after award of the evening, was The Presidential Award, which was awarded to Nolwazi Pinkie Madlala, 26, a physically disabled woman who has faced challenges of studying and working in an ‘able bodied world’ where adaptations and adjustments to facilitate wheel chair accessibility are not always made. She is currently working as an intern Clinical Psychologist at 1 Military hospital, Thaba Tshwane Pretoria and will undertake a year of Community Service in 2013. Nolwazi having won in two categories received, R50 000 for the Extraordinary Champions Category and R100 000 for having won the Presidential Award (the overall award of the evening) plus a bursary sponsored by Educor valued at R100 000 for 3 years of tertiary education at Damelin.
The reason we are here is to offer our congratulations to Thulani and his colleagues in person. Thulani’s work has earned him a nomination as the CNN Hero of the Year. From the final Top 10 list, he is the only African, a great feat! The ultimate winner will be decided by a public vote and will be honoured at a tribute show in Los Angeles, where he/she will also receive an additional $250,000 to continue their work. But very shortly, Thulani will give you more information about the CNN Hero of the Year Awards.
As an organisation whose key mandate is that of advancing youth development, ours is most definitely also that of encouraging young people to serve their communities. When we came across Thulani’s story, we could not pass-up on the opportunity to show our support in our own unique NYDA way. As an organisation, we have therefore pledged support to the value of R400 000 towards the Kliptown Youth Programme. R150 000 cash will go towards the Programme and we will be handing over the cheque here today. R50 000 will go towards a special advertising campaign calling on all South Africans and Africans to vote for Thulani which has already begun via our website and social media. We will actually play for you a radio recording that Thulani has recently done in-studio which we will be flighting from the end of this week for the next month, then lastly we will be offering Kliptown Youth Programme R200 000’s worth of services of our training & development programmes.
Before I conclude, I would like to take this opportunity to bring to your attention that in our presence also are two beneficiaries that we have assisted, these two beneficiaries are entrepreneurs from right here in Soweto. We would encourage you to engage them after the formalities, they are:
- Nqobile Nkosi, 29 – Nqobile is the proud owner of NQ Jewellery Design Services, the first black-owned jewellery manufacturing and retail business in Soweto. The business uses precious stones such as silver, gold, platinum and diamonds to manufacture jewellery. Nqobile’s journey in the jewellery manufacturing industry started in 2007 after he attended an 18 months training course in jewellery manufacturing and design. With the R100 000 business loan that Nqobile acquired from the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA), he managed to purchase additional equipment and material and also used it for working capital. According to Nqobile the Cornerstone jewellery brand is doing extremely well in the UK market. The jewellery brand has been chosen as one of the 2012 Hot 100 in the UK jewellery trade, a first for a jewellery brand formed in Soweto.
- Keneilwe Mogapi, 30 - enduring entrepreneurial spirit has played a key role in her success. A recent business opportunity that she took advantage of was to install ultra violet sanitising ceiling discs at the South African Social Security Agency’s (SASSA) nine offices. With the R50 000 business loan that she acquired from the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) Keneilwe successfully implemented the SASSA deal.
- Zondi Buy Back Centre is a 7 member primary co-operative operating in Zondi Soweto, they’ve received R1.2 million business loan from us. They recycle plastic, cardboard, paper and aluminium that would have ended up polluting our country. Through Zondi, 247 jobs in total have been created.
We are incredibly proud of our beneficiaries!
In conclusion, to Thulani Madondo and the 16 staff who support you, we are here to take our hats off to you all by recognising your valued contribution, but also to call on all South Africans and Africans on the larger continent to not hesitate to vote for Thulani, a social activist who with his colleagues is carrying the dreams of his community on their shoulders. The closing date is on 28 November 2012, details that Thulani will furnish you with shortly.
As the NYDA, we trust and hope that your programme will grow from strength to strength! We wish you well in Los Angeles and will be watching the awards with bated breath!
