Ex-Miss SA finalist and TruFM boss empower young people

TWO prominent Eastern Cape businesswomen, former Miss SA 2004 finalist Yolanda Pieterson and TruFM station manager Thobeka Buswana, are getting to the forefront of developing other young women and men in the region by hosting grooming schools during the school holidays.

Lulutho Grooming school offers boys and girls from age 9 to 30 upwards mentorship, career guidance, public speaking, and drama activities as well as deals with issues like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) disorders in young ones and helps the youngsters to focus on their strengths through arts and cultural rehabilitation programs.

Eight hundred kids attended the weeklong camp which drew to a close over the weekend at Byletts High in the Kei Mouth area allowed the children a safe space to explore their talents and deal with social elements or problems they may have faced.

“The camp was very well received by the kids who all came from different walks of life. Our main focus is to deal with and encourage guidance which we have found is causing young people to have a low self esteem,” Pieterson said.

She started the organisation in 2009 which has been sustained by Pieterson and her husband’s company, Enroute Traders, which also found financial support from the National Lotteries Commission this year.

The school hosts two camps annually for boys and girls and uses music, dance and poetry to motivate and upskill the youths.

Youths came from areas around Mthatha, King William’s Town and Mdantsane.

“The change in these kids who come from rural areas is evident at the end of the camp because sometimes all they need to know is that someone cares and will listen to them.

“Often these kids are orphaned and raising their younger siblings and this camp is an opportunity for them to be a child themselves again and be who they are without any added responsibility and you can see them thrive.”

Pieterson added that the camp was largely based on a spiritual influence and saw pastors from the Abbotsford Christian Centre offering up their time to guide and mentor the children.

The Thobeka Buswana School for also offers a camp to assist women navigate their best Buswana.

They concentrate on improving life skills and self worth. The school was launched last month.

Buswana said it was important to incorporate a monthly workshop where the girls can come with their mothers and work on any issues they might have.

“We provide a safe space for girls to have meaningful conversations with mentors, among themselves and with their mothers. I strongly believe that if I had this early intervention in my life I would be much further on in my life. We are are trying to create that for these young women where they can address very important issues,” she said.

Buswana added that they also communicated the importance of empowerment to the young women.

“The girls are loving the workshops and have responded so well to it by giving so much of themselves.

“It is amazing to see them being kids again without any added pressure,” she said. — the young lives, said

We provide a safe space for girls to have meaningful conversations