I have to have hope my future will be bright says a young unemployed man.

Luyanda Jujuju finished matric last year but like many of his peers, he is struggling to find work.
He explains his journey and hopes that by being open, others who read his story will not feel alone.
He writes:

I don’t have hope for the future, but I must try to be positive.

Everything is tough, at home and in this city. Before Covid-19, I was looking forward to my future but not anymore. Everything went downhill after the lockdowns as my situation at home with my family changed.

Both my mom and dad were retrenched. Luckily my mom managed to find work but my dad has not been so lucky. For the past two years, he has been applying for work but there is nothing out there and he is depressed and stressed. So my mom’s wages have to cover us all which is impossible.

Before Covid-19, I was going to finish school and go to university. That has all changed though as the funds set aside for that have had to be used for living, school fees and food. Now there are no funds to study so I need to find work urgently.

I have been battling to find even little jobs because I only received my matric certificate yesterday because my dad had not been able to pay up my school fees. Looking for work without your matric certificate is impossible. That was tough but now I have it, I hope things will get better for me, but I am scared.

I’d love to find work in construction or logistics as that is what I am interested in. That would be incredible and I’ll do all I can to make that happen for me but I’ll do any work at all as I need to be earning something.

I don’t know what will happen in my future but I need to keep trying and believe something will change for me. We have to have hope and we all need to keep trying for a bright future.

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