In a sweet valley in the Southern Cape of South Africa, you’ll find Haarlem where 3 young people with an appetite for Vocational Training in Agriculture program resides.
Monique Ressouw, Tania Phillips and Celestie Esau attended a AgriCamp funded and supported by Learning Academy Worldwide, SWEDEN. An outflow of the camp sparked an interest to strengthen communities by giving young people knowledge and skills to ask questions that will help uncover the clarity needed to find solutions to poverty and youth unemployment.
The three young people have already graduated from High School in South Africa and they were introduced to Learning Academy Worldwide by the Western Cape Department of Agriculture as candidates interested to explore a career in Agriculture.
Like many young people between 19-25, Monique, Tania and Celestie have tried several solutions to find employment. Living some 150km from the bigger town, George, adds to the difficulty of their endeavours. At the time of the camp in October 2019, Monique and Celestie both held a small job in the community that put bread on the table but had not longterm significant possibilities.
Some employment opportunities are valuable on surrounding farms and these often are seasonal and not necessarily what young people envisage as a career or even a step into new career possibilities. Survival in Haarlem and many other rural towns, therefore push these young people to accept opportunities that availed even if it is not primarily what they desire to do as their life work. In this regard their struggles are no different from what their peers struggle with in many other parts of South Africa and the world, for that matter.
