25 Mar 2019

Youth activist, Mr Christopher Seagateng, has called on young people to develop the spirit of volunteerism in order to be exposed to various opportunities.

Born and bred in Mmopane in the Kweneng District, Mr Seagateng said young people could start to volunteer in their villages, to gain experience and enhance their Curriculum Vitae.

The 30-year-old graduate of BA (Hons) in Broadcasting & Journalism from Limkokwing University said in an interview that volunteering was better than staying home and being idle.

He said he had always dreamt of being in leadership and his dream came true when he became chairperson of Khiro Youth Movement at his Catholic church.

He said from there, he continued to do voluntary work in church, mostly working with young people.

Currently a board member of Botswana National Youth Council, Mr Seagateng was also instrumental in establishing the BW Jobs 4 Graduates organisation.

BW Jobs 4 Graduates organisation aimed at helping youth to find jobs and those who wanted to start their own businesses.

He stated that BW Jobs 4 Graduates started in 2012 on Facebook to reach out to the youth through sharing job opportunities, job application tips, interview experiences as well as motivational messages.

At the end of 2012, he said, the BW Jobs 4 Graduates was registered as a Non-Governmental Organization and has grown in leaps and bounds.

Mr Seagateng said the organisation had already assisted many young people and it had introduced new initiatives such as weekly trainings.

Even though the organization was doing well, he said there were some challenges such as lack of funding to reach out to many youth across the country.

He added that they had offices in Gaborone and Francistown only, which made it difficult for them to reach youth in some villages.

Furthermore, Mr Seagateng advised youth to utilise social media in regard to search for opportunities such as scholarships to further studies and to do some short courses.

On the challenge of unemployment, he urged youth to channel their energy to be part of the solution, adding that with that mindset a lot could be achieved to address the situation.

“For the Botswana we want, it needs all actors to come on board, particularly the government, parastatals as well as the youth themselves as they a bigger part of the population,” he said.

In recognition of his passion of contributing positively towards the lives of other young people, Chris was selected the 2017 winner of the African Youth Award, for the Youth empowerment category.ENDS