St Agnes equips job seekers with skills
The church will be offering short term courses and training which will be sponsored by funds from the various sources in the community.
THE St Agnes Church hosts unemployed people from the Highway area as part of the church’s social outreach programme.
Les Rodel, Social Outreach portfolio leader, said the programme was started in the mid 70s by a group of women from the Black Sash organization.
“It was started to assist gardeners and domestic workers find jobs and as time went by and things changed, the programme expanded. We now have English classes,computer classes for beginners and cooking classes when teachers are available.
“The beaders also come to the church every Tuesday to do their work and sell it to the public. The skills learned help the people become more self sufficient to enable them to market their products more effectively” he said.
The nurses from the Kloof Clinic also go to the church every Tuesday to do HIV tests, blood pressure and blood glucose level checks. All health issues are dealt with and referrals made as required.
“Employers fill in a form with their requirements, we then select people who are as close as possible to what the person is looking for.
All people registered are interviewed and their personal information, previous work experience and references are noted for our records,” said Rodel.
The church will be offering short term courses and training from 2017 which will be sponsored by funds from various sources in the community.
These course will be outsourced to training organization in the highway area.
The job seekers have skills in domestic work, gardening, child caring, caring for the aged and disabled.
The courses offered will help place people in a better position to pursue careers as electricians or assistants, receptionists, office or admin workers, painters, plasterers or apply for jobs in the industrial sewing and welding fields.
