Learners drawn from different high schools within Tembisa were honoured with certificates and medals after successfully completing a Dinaledi Leadership Programme.
The learners, who were mainly from Grades Nine to 11, were paired together for a six-week programme, and according to founder of the programme Charles Marriot, they all showed great maturity and leadership qualities.
“This is a leadership course in action. We want to produce many young people to be ambassadors of this programme. “We are building a team that will gradually take care of their own problems. Tembisa needs to heal Tembisa,” said Marriot during the graduation ceremony held on Saturday at Zitikeni High School.
He said this leadership programme started in 2009, with the aim of getting young people to take charge of their lives and start making decisions that will have an impact and eventually change their lives and their environment.
“We have realised that in Tembisa,and many other parts of Gauteng, young people are really not in control. They feel like victims, and, through this programme, we are trying to teach them that they can be winners. All that they need to do is some introspection first and look at their lives to see what is working for them and what is not. This is about making young people feel good about themselves and value themselves,” he said.
“This is turning young people into leaders. They are now taking charge of their lives, and they are starting to influence other young people around them to say that they, too, don’t have to do what the crowd does. We are saying every young person is a star, but they need to uncover their star, because many of their stars are covered by clouds,” he continued.
Learners who graduated will be empowered and armed with knowledge to help their communities and schools with programmes, such as drug awareness or cleaning campaigns.
