Ryse project’s members want to improve community of eMbalenhle and Secunda
Founders and volunteers want to focus on the youth.
Volunteers and founders of the Ryse (Resilient Youth in Stressed Environments) project had a meeting in Secunda on Thursday, May 19 to discuss their progress in eMbalenhle.
This project is driven through Khulisa Social Solutions, a non-profit organisation.
The volunteers and founders of this project consist of a group of professional people and youngsters from eMbalenhle and other parts of South Africa and abroad who focus on youth in two communities that are impacted by the oil and gas industry.
These two communities are Secunda/eMbalenhle and Drayton Valley in Alberta in Canada.
These founders want to create a safer, healthier and more prosperous South Africa.
The founder of this project, Lesley-Ann van Selm, said they want to create a space where the youth can have access to information, skills and opportunities they need to contribute to local and national development.
The Ryse project’s mission is to address social vulnerabilities and inequalities by providing support and developmental know-how, through key partnerships, for initiatives at a community level that quantifiably demonstrate social impact.
“We want to understand better how biological, psychological, social and ecological factors, individually affect the resilience of young people between 13 and 24 years of age who live in these communities,” said Van Selm.
In previous meetings, the group discussed how living in a disadvantaged community placed the youth further at risk for example strikes because of service delivery and jobs.
They also spoke about how strong women play a significant role in the resilience of youth in a stressful environment and how having caring, giving and loyal women plays a critical role in this matter as well.
The Ryse project is a five year, multi-national research project and committee members are young adults who want to distribute results in non-academic ways to stakeholders in the communities.
Two academics, Dr Michael Ungar from Canada and Prof Linda Theron from the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Pretoria, leading Ryse, also visited Secunda and eMbalenhle in May and are working with the committee of Ryse to distribute the research results in non-academic ways to stakeholders in the communities affected.
The ultimate outcome that the Ryse founders and volunteers are hoping for when this project is completed, is to enhance the health and well-being of youth and their families in Secunda and eMbalenhle.
