Al-Fidaa skills development initiatives hailed as step in the right direction
Published: December 02, 2021<< BACK TO NEWS
A cheerfully adorned classroom with balloons, cakes, bread rolls, popcorn and multiple other delicacies, made by enthusiastic graduates from the Al-Fidaa Baking School, welcomed seasoned community activist and now newly elected Executive Mayor Eugene Johnson this morning.
Although her visit to the North End centre was scheduled to
encourage and congratulate young graduates of a four-week baking course, it
soon became apparent that young men and women are also empowered with accredited
sewing and computer classes. A quick visit to the graduating sewing class was
immediately prioritised as well.
"Use your
newly developed skills to start opportunities for yourself. We need more
entrepreneurs in our city to help us create jobs. Government cannot do it
alone. We can create the right environment for businesses to prosper, but it is
up to those who want to make a success of themselves to grab the existing
opportunities,” Mayor Johnson said.
The sewing
and computer classes are over a four and a three months period respectively,
with numerous success stories listed by Al-Fidaa Foundation Skills Development
Manager Mohammed Matvad.
"I was
shocked to see that the latest unemployment figures, released by Statistics
South Africa, states that unemployment in our city reached 40.7% in this
quarter. This is very worrying as our people are already struggling due to the
credit downgrade, the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and the rising cost of
living in our country. Everything is expensive nowadays,” Mayor Johnson said.
She further
congratulated the graduates, encouraged them to seek business advice from the
National Youth Development Agency and the Nelson Mandela Bay Business Hub and
promised to return with an order from one of the clothing design businesses.
Business
owners gave words of encouragement and former students shared their stories
with the graduates.
The Al-Fidaa
Foundation was established in 2008, started their skills development wing in
2014 and consistently assists with community development programmes such as feeding
schemes, oxygen distribution to coronavirus patients and disaster relief
efforts.
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