HER childhood wounds have birthed a purpose to not only cautiously parent her own children but to impart her knowledge about parenting to other parents. Ikusasa Ngelami founder Zonke Shazi-Hlongwane shared with the Highway Mail the purpose of her organisation during the High School Readiness Programme they hosted in Westville on Saturday.

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Ikusasa Ngelami is a youth development programme that is meant to provide holistic development for children and their parents.

“I grew up in a violent home, and at the age of nine, I was moved away from home to be with other relatives. That resulted in me harbouring so much anger. I was upset, I had so many questions and I answered those questions according to my age and my development physiologically. All those answers were wrong: I concluded that nobody loved me; I concluded that there was something wrong with me, or that they were trying to shift me. I could not come up with a positive answer as to why I was moved away from home. I then went on to live, thinking that caregivers are unfair, life is unfair, and I felt unwanted.

“I learnt at a later stage that I had passive aggression. That aggression guided my decision-making. If I didn’t want to study, I wouldn’t; if I didn’t want to go to school but was forced to, I would get there and not apply myself,” she said.

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Shazi-Hlongwane said the organisation was born because of what she went through. She said her aim was to teach children to understand their development.

“I was not qualified when I started the programme. I started it with the youth in Nanda where there was a positive peer culture group. The group was where we talked about decision-making, peer pressure and many other things that affect young people. When I discovered that those who suffer from the issues need more knowledge, I then studied Child and Youth Care. I obtained my honours degree, and I did my research on factors affecting young people and causing them to engage in drugs. The research pointed me back to the factors that were affecting me, and I realised I was at risk as a youth,” she said.

Shazi-Hlongwane said her research also led her to launch intervention programmes. The High School Readiness Programme on Saturday was part of that. The programme was aimed to reach out to young people and meet them where they are psychologically and assist them in dealing with the issues of life in a positive manner.

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“Today’s programme will get young people to interact with those they have never met, and this will prepare them psychologically. This is to create comfortableness around peers they have never met as they are going to high school. Today’s programme includes: Dealing with peer pressure; decision-making; how to choose friends; dealing with bullying; goal setting for their academics; how to manage social media pressure, and how to avoid the pitfalls of teenage romantic relationships,” she explained.

Thirty children joined Saturday’s programme and enjoyed mind-enriching activities.