UberEats and KYP
After UberEats launched its expansion to Soweto in June 2019, they felt the need to tap into the youth potential of Soweto. The quickest way to find the job candidates they were looking for was to seek out help from a program that works directly with the youth in Soweto. Our organization has been a beacon of hope in transforming the lives of the youth in Kliptown for more than ten years. Through our vocational development program, we are invested in the development of our youth and helping them gain access to opportunities to help them overcome poverty. Because of our track record and connections with qualified young people, UberEats chose to team up with KYP. They worked directly with our vocational development team to reach out to the youth and encourage them to be part of this amazing opportunity.
In working with UberEats, we used our social media platforms to inform the youth about the opportunity to become delivery drivers. Because these platforms are mostly made up of the youth, the message travelled far and wide, so that we were able to reach not only Kliptown but also people from other townships in Soweto who have responded accordingly. Because UberEats is predominantly an online platform and not everyone has the means to access them, we invited them to use our centre to conduct their interviews, and also to help candidates create their online profiles.
Thanks to the partnership of our vocational development programme and UberEats, over 30 drivers in Kliptown have been recruited by UberEats. These individuals are now their own bosses and enjoy the convenience of working flexible hours and earning money while doing so. Kliptown especially needed this opportunity because thousands in this informal settlement still live in poverty and the unemployment rate is extremely high.
The goal of UberEats is to create hundreds of flexible work opportunities for local residents in Soweto and the service is growing in the area. We are confident that the goal will be reached sooner than we expected. Our relationship with UberEats is becoming more fruitful for everyone involved.
KYP NEWS UPDATE
Dear KYP Friends,
Greetings from all of us at KYP! We’re excited to share this update on some of the latest developments at KYP, all thanks to your support! We hope you’ll find joy and pride in seeing the progress made possible by your generous support. In this newsletter you'll learn about our new university graduates, KYP’s recent internet upgrade, our recent alumni reunion, new staff development achievements, the 2019 seniors, who are inspired by the 2018 matric results, and Mr. and Miss KYP 2019. Please follow us on all our social media networks to keep up with future happenings at KYP, and many thanks again for keeping our vital work going!
Regards,
Thulani
ALUMNI REUNION
On May 1st, we held our first KYP Alumni Reunion, inviting all the young people who have been part of our tutoring program and were beneficiaries of opportunities provided by KYP from 2008 to 2018. This event aimed to help us track our Alumni and gain a clear picture of what they are doing now and how best we can help those who are still unemployed or have no marketable skills.
We were thrilled at the great turn-out for the event and the inspiring speeches given by some of our Alumni. Everyone had the opportunity to interact and exchange knowledge and ideas for helping KYP provide opportunities to enable other Kliptown youth to rise out of poverty. It was a successful day and a great way to revive connections with and among our Alumni, who are already looking forward to the next event on the 26th of October 2019.
NEW UNIVERSITY STUDENTS
Please join us in offering big congratulations to our recent university graduates! Letsika Sebakeng (pictured above) completed a Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering and is currently a junior civil engineer at Themba Consultants, which supported his university education.
Khanyisile Sineke graduated with an Industrial Engineering degree and is now pursuing a BTech qualification in the same field. Nomusa Mthembu successfully completed a National Diploma in Human Resources and is now pursuing a BTech with a Human Resources specialization. These degrees will position them for good jobs enabling them to change their own lives and help their families as well.
Their examples inspire dozens of younger KYP students and motivate us to work even harder to ensure that more students have the opportunity to follow in their footsteps!
STAFF DEVELOPMENT ACHIEVEMENTS
Our team continues developing our professional skills through various opportunities offered by KYP to empower staff members. Thando Bezana and Monwabisi Baleni successfully completed a tour guiding course which qualifies them as professional tour guides in Soweto.
Tshepo Tabohane and Siyabonga Bukhwele on our IT team recently completed certificates in graphic design at City Varsity. Tshepo and Siya also facilitate our computer literacy courses and will be offering the new skills they acquired to the students who attend our classes.
INTERNET UPGRADE
Thanks to our generous donors, KYP has been able to boost support for key activities with a recent upgrade in our internet speed and the acquisition of a new network called RAIN, which greatly expanded our internet capacity. We can now run 100 devices on the network at once, which enables our after-school students in different classes to access the internet at the same time from a variety of devices. We now have desktops, laptops, Chromes, and tablets for members to use for their online programs and school research. These improvements bring us much closer to our goal of bridging the technology gap in Kliptown, a huge challenge for so many disadvantaged communities like ours.
MR AND MISS KYP 2019
This year we held our first Mr & Miss KYP competition, which included separate contests for the foundation (kindergarten) phase, intermediate (middle school) phase and the high school phase.
The centre was filled with nervous but enthusiastic contestants and excited community members. The children looked dazzling in their formal wear and KYP gear. The judging was based on their confidence, personality, and answers to questions about KYP. Those judged to have the best responses won the title of Mr or Miss KYP, while the rest were recognized for their participation in the contest. There were also performances from different artists in the community, and of course our very own gumboots and ladies dancers were up on the stage.
It was a beautiful event that brought the community together and filled the centre with pride and love for the children!
2019 SENIORS INSPIRED BY 2018 RESULTS
2019 started with the amazing news that our 2018 grade 12 students achieved a 93% pass rate on their matric exams! These results gave great encouragement to our 27 2019 seniors -- which was crucial, as this is our largest group of seniors in a long time. Our team has worked very hard to motivate our learners to stay in the program and remain focused on their school work, and these efforts have clearly paid off. Please join us in wishing our current seniors well as they begin to write their preliminary examinations and prepare for the matric exams in late October and November.
KYP Annual Report, 2018
Thank you Boston, Indianapolis, San Francisco, and Louisiana!
What an amazing and most successful 3 weeks tour we had traveling in the US and catching up with our friends and partners who have visited us and love the work we do. We had a great time visiting schools and after-school programs, doing service, talking with students, and connecting with communities, some new to us and some old friends, all of which are now dear to our hearts. It was incredible to perform with our gumboots for so many people, and we know we leave behind a lot of inspired gumboots dancers who we had the chance to teach a few steps to! We would like to take this opportunity and give our deepest gratitude and thanks to everyone who hosted us and was hands on in every initiative we were doing. Boston, New Orleans, Louisiana and San Francisco, we appreciate your welcoming hearts and wonderful hospitality!
Minenhle and Thato Make Us Proud
Minenhle Nxasana
My name is Minenhle Nxasana. Next year I am going to be a Ruth First Scholarship girl at Jeppe High School. I am so happy that I worked hard to get the scholarship. Ruth First was an extraordinary woman who did tremendous work for women in our history, and now she is honored by her friends and family through scholarship opportunities for girls. Today, I am one of the chosen girls to carry her legacy and I am very excited to be part of this.
When I was told I would be going to Jeppe Girls High school, I was very honored and I wrote a speech about what would I want to see in the world in 100 years. “I imagine South Africa in particular with a female president, because empowering women is already changing the world. So I ask this question to you, 'how do you contribute in changing the world?'"
Thato Kewagile
My name is Thato Kewagile. I am 13 years old and I was born in Kliptown and have been a member of KYP for 4 years. What I really love about the Ruth First Scholarship is that it gives me the opportunity to do different things and learn a lot, to see above the skies and reach out to the stars.
A section of my speech that I enjoyed presenting as a Ruth First scholar is when I said, "South Africa is known to be one of the countries filled with squatter camps or informal settlements, and in 100 years time I would like for the South African government to build better homes for the people." I loved presenting about this because I live and have lived in an informal settlement for all my life and if not me, who can solve this social problem? I have experienced the challenges of it and I will contribute to the solution of it.
Zanele Bezana and Mongezi Mini are stars of the month
Zanele Bezana and Mongezi Mini, both 9 years old and in grade 4, have been consistent top achieving learners in their school grades and at KYP in all their school lives. Their dedication and commitment to their education has been so inspiring not only to the children at KYP but the community at large.
Zanele has represented her school nationally in mathematics competitions and has always come out victorious. Just recently, she was chosen to be on an advert for one of the biggest stationery supply stores in South Africa. She was chosen to be on this advert because of her amazing story and her willingness to achieve regardless of where she comes from.
Mongezi Mini amazes us daily with his will to grab any opportunity given to him by KYP. He knows that working hard and having the best attitude will provide him better chances of getting educational opportunities. He has won numerous achievement awards for his intelligence and hard work, and we are so proud of all he has done at such a young age.
Both these young people will be starting grade 5 at Jeppe Preparatory School in 2019, which is one of the most highly recommended schools over the years. We are so happy for them and hope this encourages other young people to work hard to achieve great things.
Excited for our New Solar
After months of using the noisy and costly generator as our source of power for our centre, we had a big wish of having new solar panels because the ones we have been using for the past 8-10 years have lost its working power. With such a situation we had to go back to using a generator which the petrol to keep it running and fixing it costed us so much money.
Not only did it cost us so much but it was noisy for our classrooms and not easy to work around especially when we have important lessons, workshops and trainings taking place. In cases of a really bad weather, we will have a generator as a back up to keep our operations running.
We would love to take this opportunity and thank our friends in USA and Germany for all the funding put together in making this wish possible for us. We are so happy to have such a wonderful, cost effective and long-term gift.
Aphiwe Sineke joins the team as our Social worker
Aphiwe Sineke was born in Kliptown in an environment where most people are discouraged and underprivileged in many ways. Aphiwe states, “Growing up in communities which are challenged can cause a great deal of harm to their confidence and true identity, but it can also stir resilience within individuals." Not all people in the community are discouraged and not all people are hopeless. Amongst those who remained optimistic through his day to day experiences, Aphiwe remained focused on his dreams.
“Within the community, I found simple people with extraordinary the heart to share a meal, a smile, and a word of wisdom now and then. Like most children of the community, I consider myself as one of those who are not brought up by just one family, but by the community as a whole because of their support and countless kindnesses towards me. Their support and kindness is not based on them having enough resources but rather their willingness and gestures of Ubuntu (humanity). Such values and qualities inspired me to go to the helping profession”
“In this life I have lived until now, I have realized that it is not that people do not have aspirations or are useless if they do not reach the peak level of their potential. Rather, the many stressors under which people live can lead to them normalizing and accepting unbearable situations without the willingness or strength to change. Life has taught me to respect people not for what they have or because of their rank or status, but simply because all people deserve to be respected whether they are conscious of that or they think that way about themselves."
“I have learnt that status means nothing without humility, and surely we are each unique. But no soul is more valuable than any other. Today I am grateful that this very community has raised a Social Worker, and it is an honor to serve at home: Kliptown Youth Program. The establishment of KYP and being part of it from high school (2007) until today has been a great journey. Their special contribution towards my studies until I completed them is one of the greatest things which has happened to me. Today I am employed within the organisation of which I am an alumni, my responsibility being to offer a holistic psychosocial support for KYP members and the community at large through therapeutic intervention on a one-one-one basis, to groups or families, or at the community level. I work to maximize the potential of individuals by reinforcing their strengths; promoting the wellbeing of all members and the community; minimize the cause-effect which places children and adults in the “at-risk” state, with high probabilities of negative future outcomes."
"I am grateful for all the opportunities I have been given to make my dream a reality, and also to serve within the community which I am part of. If I spoke and no-one listened, if I reasoned and was misunderstood or taken for granted, I will remain hopeful that one day I will be remembered that I once sowed a seed of hope in someone’s life"
Meet Thapelo Siasia our Vocational Development Officer
"I joined KYP on its 10th anniversary as a volunteer, fell in love with it instantly, and then decided to join the team on a more permanent basis. My former lecturer at UJ and her close friend, Mrs. Gillian Ilsley, who also happens to be my former clinical supervisor and is a current KYP board member, encouraged me into the wonderful world of KYP. She led us into cleaning and opening up the Psycho-social Center last year, but didn't count on me leaving Educational Psychology after personally connecting me to the organisation. My role includes but is not limited to coordinating all vocational and life transitioning activities of KYP members in linking them to learnerships, bursaries, scholarships and employment opportunities. It is this very role that made me realize I could do so much more with my life and for my community by focusing on bigger and better systems in society, and by exiting academia much earlier than I expected! For a more focused and rewarding journey awaits me as I seek generational emancipation of my people, through service and education."
What are your responsibilities in this role?
"I am working to develop a clearly defined guidelines for the Vocational Development Program, and how to measure successes and failures in all present projects. I have managed to establish the Work-Readiness Program, which runs every second Sunday to the benefit of all our senior members, alumni and interested community members.This program also trains KYP leaders and tutors on how to develop necessary "soft skills" in KYP members and how to enhance their own career prospects whilst they are at it. I am in the process of helping to form and lead a Vocational Advisory Committee, which consists of staff members, external stakeholders and board members. I also manage the KYP Mentorship Program, which involves the holistic and career guidance of all our Grade 11 and 12 members through mentor-mentee matches and quarterly mentorship seminars.
Furthermore, I help secure and maintain new corporate relationships with employers of our alumni and continue to search for bigger and better opportunities for all of them. I am also responsible for making sure the Grade 9 subject-choice assessments are successfully administered, and I help ensure our alumni and Grade 12 learners are able to attend career expos. The idea for the Grade 12 Matric speeches came through this program, and the continuous running of Motivational Wednesdays for all our high scholars is still inspirational with our attending members. All our matriculants have applied to institutions of higher learning for next year or in gap year organisations like City Year South Africa.
KYP Annual Report, 2017
We are proud to present our 2017 Annual Report! Inside, you will find our achievements not only for 2017, but also since our inception in 2007. You'll be able to look over our strategic goals for the next 3 years, catch up on events and travels from last year, and take a deep dive into the organization, staff, financials, and other information.
