Youth development centre flourishing
Lungelo Youth Development Centre in Mzingazi unveiled its fully functional 100-seater hall
YEARS of hard work, fund-raising and lobbying for financial support paid off this year when Lungelo Youth Development Centre in Mzingazi unveiled its fully functional 100-seater hall where gatherings, group meetings and events can take place.
The organisation, established in 2012, has grown significantly from a small, makeshift structure in the backyard of a community member to now housing multiple buildings for youth and community development projects and programmes.
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Founder Mary Mlambo expressed her gratitude for the ongoing support from businesses, organisations and individuals across the globe.
They have implemented an adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) project and an Aids Foundation of SA project in eight of the 34 uMhlathuze wards.
‘The project is about the prevention of HIV infections among adolescent girls and young women, and we conduct prevention efforts by offering a layer of services to beneficiaries and encourage school children to remain committed to completing high school.
‘We also provide clinical youth services with the assistance of a professional nurse and a social worker and two social auxiliary workers for psycho-social support.
‘In addition, our Covid-19 relief team is going strong and we have a team of seven members that supports the Department of Health in Covid-19 screening and testing in communities and schools, as well as checking compliance with Covid-19 regulations.
‘Our daycare and crèche facility has not resumed, however. The women working on that project have been sewing to improve their skills and generate an income.
‘We have continued to distribute food parcels to more than 40 families since the lockdown through the KFC Add Hope project and Richards Bay Coal Terminal,’ said Mlambo.
Academic support for Grade 12 pupils through online studying and applying for tertiary studies and funding assistance is ongoing.
Since lockdown regulations prevented the organisation from providing cooked meals, they could not allow children who received meals at the centre in the after-school programmes and at the crèche go hungry, they began making sandwiches and dropping them off for the children at certain spots in the village.
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