A million reasons to keep up hope in the face of trying circumstances
Karabo Radebe was sitting at home feeling like his life was wasting away. Then he was given a sense of direction and now he knows he can make something of his life.
What made the difference was the Tshepo One Million project, an initiative supported by the Gauteng government.
Raised by a single mother in Kagiso, Radebe was determined to do something with his life, but then he hit a big hurdle.
“I had never failed a grade, but in 2012 when I first wrote my matric something happened. I had problems with mathematics and physics and I failed.”
He was devastated and “felt like giving up”. He enrolled in ABET (Adult Basic Education and Train- ing) and kept studying to pass matric. While doing that, he got a job as a waiter at a lodge in 2014, but it was liquidated in the same year. Then he volunteered as a mentor and training facilitator at NGO Initiatives of Change, where he worked until he got a matric certificate in 2016.
“After that so many doors opened for me. It was as if Gauteng [provincial government] was embracing me.
“I applied for Tshepo One Million and went through three phases of tests and eight weeks of training before I got my first interview,” he said.
His first interview was not successful, but he has secured a sixmonth contract at the Gauteng Liquor Board and said he was very grateful to the government.