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Meet the Campaigner | Pelontle Maila

Pelontle Maila

8 July 2022

Hi everyone! My name is Pelontle Maila. I’m 25 years old and I’m from Limpopo, but I’m currently based in North West in Greater Taung district, a small rural area called Gataote village. I’m a Youth Capital Campaigner who hopes to see change in my community.

⚙️ To you, what does it mean to be a Campaigner with Youth Capital?

Being a Youth Capital Campaigner means taking up the responsibility to be the voice of the youth in South Africa. Furthermore, I add to the gathering of information about challenges young people are facing. Being a Campaigner is a game-changer, because I get to see what we can achieve as youth.

⚙️ What do you hope to achieve as a Youth Capital Campaigner?

I hope to achieve more opportunities to see young people engaging and helping out in their communities, and to be recognized by municipalities – that they acknowledge the role we play. This would probably open up more opportunities in the future. Looking at my community in the specific, I hope that we can bring technology on sites, have an internet cafe, and computer centres.

⚙️ Why did you become a Youth Capital Campaigner?

I became a Youth Capital Campaigner to engage with youth and gain more experience and learn how other young people network and collaborate.

⚙️ What did you do on Youth Day?

 This Youth Day, I organised a youth event sponsored by Youth Capital, screening a short documentary, and facilitating a discussion with other young people to speak about challenges of youth unemployment.

Watch the short documentary.

⚙️ Why do you think it’s important to celebrate young people in 2022?

I think we should celebrate young people in 2022 to become aware of and to see what youth are up to, what challenges they’re facing or what they have achieved so far; we also need to understand what advice and activities need to be shared with other young people.

⚙️ What did you enjoy about the experience of hosting your own screening in your community?

I felt overwhelmed by young people who were able to speak up about the challenges they faced. In my community, councillors were happy to hear that I had an awesome idea to celebrate Youth Day.

⚙️ What is one thing that you learned from the documentary?

I learnt that young people go through a depressing journey when looking for work and the challenges they go through are so sad.

⚙️ What’s the change you’d like to see in your community?

I want to see youth excelling in community activities. I want to see my community having free wi-fi for young people to access the internet, and see small businesses and young entrepreneurs have a growth mindset to create strategies to flourish and hire young people.

⚙️ Building on the energy from the documentary, what is something that you would like to do next to promote solutions to youth unemployment?

I would like to advocate for companies in my area to implement virtual or telephonic interviews, and only ask for documents to be certified when young people are called to a final interview or when we get the job, especially for those of us based in rural areas.

⚙️ Why should other Campaigners host their own screening?

The screening can help young people understand and hear different views, and they will be able to identify challenges their peers experience- so we can achieve youth empowerment, together.

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 host your screening.