Tshepo 1 Million helps young mom Empowering the youth
When Thulisile Ngebusaya gave birth to her daughter three years ago, the unemployed 23-year-old worried about how she would take care of her offspring.
Her fears were realised when she was unable to afford to buy her child clothes or take her to a daycare centre. During this period, she had to depend on a child-care social grant.
Last year, however, Ngebusaya’s life changed for the better when she became part of the Tshepo 1 Million programme, an initiative by Gauteng premier David Makhura
that aims to empower young people through job placements, skills training and entrepreneurship development. Ngebusaya is one of 510,000 young people who have benefited from Tshepo and youth empowerment programmes associated with it. Tshepo 1 Million has also partnered with Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator, which prepares young people to enter the workplace and be ready to engage positively in on-the-job training and development. Harambee works with more than 430 companies in all sectors including retail, hospitality, tourism, financial services, business services, information technology, logistics, manufacturing, mining and social/community services.
“I was involved in the bridging programme on youth solving youth problems which ran from October 2018 to January 2019,” said Ngebusaya. “The programme was based on various subjects like teenage pregnancy, bad parenting, alcohol and drug abuse, among other things.”
She said the lessons she gave to the teenagers were important, because she grew up without understanding the pitfalls of having sex at a young age. She took these lessons and shared them with the children she mentored.
“Many parents would advise that you should not play with boys and you’ll fall pregnant but they don’t explain how you could fall pregnant.
“I taught the children not to fall for peer pressure and to not
use drugs. We also taught them how to generate income, pricing of goods and services, and customer service,” she said.
Ngebusaya, who completed her business management diploma in 2017, could not find a job until the Tshepo 1 Million programme job opportunity arose.
The programme ended in January, but Ngebusaya is now able to sustain herself through the lessons she learnt from Tshepo and has a small business selling washing powder and sandals.
In his state of the province address, Makhura said his administration had taken decisive steps to tackle the acute problem of youth unemployment by introducing Tshepo 1 Million as a programme to empower the youth with skills and open up opportunities for them in the economy.
“Tshepo 1 Million has brought hope and revived enthusiasm among the youth of our province.
“The stories of young people who have benefited from this flagship programme are very inspiring and real,” said Makhura.