02 Apr 2017

Kgosi Oletsositse Mosweu of Dukwi has applauded the Skills Share Centre at Dukwi Refugee Camp for empowering the out of school youth.

He said in an interview that the initiative had helped some of the out of school youth within the village to refrain from engaging in risky behaviours and to make ends meet.

He said the Skills Share Centre had given the youth an opportunity to enrol for courses to help bridge the academic gap.

The short course offered include the use of new Information Technology (IT) means such as computer training, fashion design, sculpting and several others that encourage handy jobs.

“Although we are still faced with a problem of too few training facilities here, the courses offered at Skills Share Centre do make a difference,” he said.

Kgosi Mosweu also set the record straight that although the Skills Share Centre was situated at the refugee camp, it was not intended to help refugees only.

He noted that the services at the centre were meant to benefit any interested individuals in the village.

Kgosi Mosweu also said the courses offered served as a starting point to enable the youth to stand a better chance of advancing to brigades and other training institutions.

One of the individuals who were introduced to the centre through Out-of-School Training Education (OSET) programme, Ms Lebogang Kgwarae attested that the skills she acquired at the centre enabled her to quickly grasp the tactics of fashion design.

The 35-year-old Ms Kgwarae said while at OSET, they were only taught free hand stitches and once in a week they would visit the centre, where they were introduced to the use of advanced electric sewing machines and other related activities.

Ms Kgwarae said after three months at the centre she tried her luck at Marapong Brigades for a Certificate in Dressmaking and Cutting.

“The basics I learnt at Skills Share Centre helped me to excel at the brigade, this was more of a revision material,” she said.

Upon completion, Ms Kgwarae never sat back despite that she did not have all the necessities to start up her own project.

She tried her luck with the Youth Development Fund programme and while waiting for the response, she did patchwork and doormats through free hand stitching.

“I have worked hard to acquire all these skills, as such I have no intentions to let them go to waste and currently I am engaged in patchwork and doormats,” she said.

The 32-year-old Mr Banda Mantswe also hailed the centre for empowering him with sculpturing tactics, citing that one could gain a lot of skills depending on the interest and capability.

Mr Mantswe said ever since he started designing different items such as flower pots through the use of old papers, he had managed to make ends meet. ENDS