Young people making a difference

Mulenga community in Kitwe has a group of young people making a difference. The young people collectively call themselves Tusekelele Youth Club. The group with the support of SOS Children’s Villages in Zambia has been making and mending shoes. Apart from that, they also speak to fellow young people on issues affecting them.

When the group started out, they were eight young people who could not complete their education or find gainful employment. They decided to use some of their talents to earn an income. They tried many different projects but with the support of the SOS Children’s Villages outreach team settled on shoe making and mending.

The SOS team helped train them in different areas beneficial for them to make good business decisions. Among the trainings they were exposed to where financial management training, starting a business among others. They also received a small grant to buy some of the machinery and material needed.

Today a 23 year old Abel, also chairperson of the group had this to say,”

“Together We Can Youth Group”. Tusekelele Youth Club is one of the most active youth groups in the community. It is involved in a number of activities which includes Movie production, Shoe making, Sensitization activities against Gender Based Violence, anti-child marriages, the importance of education, HIV/AIDs, child rights and responsibilities, alcohol and drug abuse among other things. The group often uses drama and traditional dances to convey its’ messages. The youth group was taken through training in leather shoe making by SOS-Family strengthening and was later empowered with shoe making equipment. Currently the youth group has continued with shoe making which is one of the major sources of income for the group members. They have also been attending meetings on the leather industry as they have been identified as a key player in the industrial sector.

 The chairperson of the youth group Abel had this to say on the impact of SOS’s programs on the youths in Mulenga community and other communities. “. Tusekelele means “let us smile”. I have been in this community from birth until now, when I am 25 years old. I have seem change in the behaviors of most of the youths in the community. We, the youth groups have done a lot sensitizations after been trained by SOS Family strengthening as peer educators. We have opened up youth friendly corners which have been operating at Mulenga Clinic every Friday where we invite all youths to be part of the meetings, and many youths have joined us.

“SOS Family Strengthening also empowered us with recreational games such as darts, chess, and scrabble that we use during our Friday meetings to socialize with our fellow youths; and during the socializations through games, we create time to talk about issues such as child marriages, alcohol and drug abuse, the importance of education and against many other bad vices in the community. SOS Family strengthening has also empowered us with infrastructure. We currently have an office that was built with funding from SOS Children’s Villages and so we have stopped operating at the clinic but we are proudly using our own office for all the group activities.”

“Our parents are now able to see the importance of the workshops and training we have been attending organized by SOS Family Strengthening. We are now able to make school shoes for both girls and boy and shoes for adults slippers for both women and men, belts, and key holders. We are renting a shop where we are selling our products at the market and we are able to make money and share the profits.

We are so grateful for your support and what you keep doing for us. You have transformed communities that Abel lives in and childhoods such as that of Angela. Youths in Abel’s community have completed their secondary schools because of the sponsorship from you. Others have completed their tertiary education and they are now working and helping their families.