Greetings! My name is Makwela Pheagane Joseph and I’m 30 years old. I live at Metz Village, in the bounds of Maruleng Municipality and I’m a Youth Capital Campaigner. In this post, I take you through my experience.
⚙️ To you, what does it mean to be a Campaigner with Youth Capital?
Being a Youth Capital Campaigner is a great opportunity to interact with different youth across the country, and advocate for ways to be economically active, from the ground up- together we can reduce youth unemployment?
⚙️ What do you hope to achieve as a Youth Capital Campaigner?
Tackling youth unemployment is a shared responsibility we have – by being a Campaigner, I hope to play my part in helping many young people in completing their matric certification, and be certified.
Read more: Why we advocate for certifications
⚙️ Why did you become a Youth Capital Campaigner?
I joined Youth Capital because it’s a platform that can help me use my voice on the issue of youth unemployment, and offers ideas on actions we can take. I saw that their vision for South Africa is aligned with mine.
⚙️ What did you do on Youth Day?
On Youth Day, I hosted people to watch the short documentary ‘I’ve been trying’ 8 years without a job; I also took part in a sanitary pads drive with Miss Maponya Foundation.
Watch the documentary: ‘I’ve been trying’ 8 years without a job.
⚙️ Well, you’re a busy and passionate young person! Why do you think it’s important to celebrate young people in 2022?
Young people need to be celebrated because even when the unemployment rate increases, we still have opportunities to get active and secure spots at Universities through National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS).
⚙️ What did you enjoy about the experience of hosting your own screening in your community?
I feel like I haven’t done enough because of the role. I wish more people could have come and been part of it. I sometimes struggle with mobilising people.
⚙️ Even though the turnout for the screening wasn’t what you expected, what is one thing that you learned from the documentary?
I learnt that people across the country are struggling, it’s not just young people in my community.
⚙️ What’s the change you’d like to see in your community?
I’d like to see young people create employment for themselves by becoming self-employed, using the skills they have because if they decide to wait for employment from our government then they might wait for the rest of their lives.
⚙️ Building on the energy from the documentary, what is something that you would like to do next to promote solutions to youth unemployment?
It would be great to create imbizo/awareness sessions with institutions like the Department of Labour, National Youth Development Agency and different Sector Education and Training Authorities across South Africa.
⚙️ Why should other Campaigners host their own screening?
The documentary and screening will bring hope to our peers, help them to focus, and try harder!
✊ Lead the change! Host your own screening.
There were over 20 screenings across South Africa on Youth Day. We’ve put a toolkit together for anyone who’d like to host their own screening. Contact us on WhatsApp to find out more!
