Leilani Gertse, our new Life Skills trainer, facilitated her first round of satellite Job Readiness training in Fisantekraal between February and March 2019.
She says “This has been an empowering and inspirational experience. We trained a combination of students from Fisantekraal and Klipheuwel. The Klipheuwel students were transported to Waumbe Youth Development Centre in Fisantekraal where the Life Skills training was presented. We had classes from Wednesdays to Fridays for 5 weeks.
In this time, I saw how students blossomed into intentional beings. They ended their class knowing what they want to do next in their lives and how they are going to get there. The very shy and quiet students spoke with confidence and pizazz that surprised the whole class. Some students could report of scheduled job interviews and even starting their new jobs during classes and since class ended.
Those students who didn’t further their studies or go for job shadows really just wanted to be part of something bigger and got the opportunity to develop tools to deal with things in their personal life, with the help of counselling made available to them and the volunteer facilitators who expertly could address specific issues that was being faced.
It has been heartwarming to see the growth of students and trainees and to be part of a team that works so diligently to influence the lives they come in contact with for the better.”
Sibabale Komanisi, an FCD intern, accepted the challenge of doing the pc skills training for the Fisantekraal based class. It was really encouraging to observe Siba stepping into this role with such comfort and enthusiasm.
He says, “Over the five weeks training in Fisantekraal I felt like a leader because I believe that I was able to equip candidates in using the computer with confidence. This has been an exciting experience. Most of the candidates were older than me but the fact that they were open to learning from me was very humbling and
taught me to treat them with respect. I also appreciated the fact that they were willing to share with me about some of the difficulties they were facing in their homes.
I have to state that it wasn’t easy at all because it was my first experience as a trainer but because of their encouragement (by using words like ”thank you, we really appreciate your patience”), the interest they showed in the training and the fact that they returned for more training, made me realise that I do have something of value to share.”
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