Page 115 - SCAT Rural Voice II - 35 Stories for 35 Years

picture of the man on the blue bike came again to my mind. Just like that my friend had ‘no voice’. I decided to change my life. I needed to be a voice for others. I needed to help the helpless, give hope to the hopeless.
In my matric year, gangsters attacked us. My friend ran away, but they grabbed me and put a gun in my mouth. I just asked the Lord to give me one more chance at that time and He granted it to me. They released me. In fear of my life I ran to Montague, where one night at an open-air church service I gave my heart to our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ.
Later I met Olin Kiewiers who was actively involved in Advice Offices. He introduced me to the community development field. At last I felt happy. I was free from the guilt I was carrying. Every time I help somebody, I feel complete. I found my purpose being a ‘voice to the voiceless’.
I moved to Stellenbosch for work purposes, doing substance abuse programmes in schools and farms. In 2011, the organisation I worked for closed due to lack of funding. I wanted to give up on life but the voice of the Lord told to me to start this organisation STEP UP Association which stands for Serve Train Educate Plan Uplift and Provision. We started off with no funding for three years then the National Development Agency (NDA) started funding us for a year. After that we were stranded again. We approached SCAT who offered to help us. Our office almost closed down, but with the support of SCAT at a critical time in our organisation we are still functioning with more funders on board.
Now we serve people from all areas in and around Stellenbosch. I am a paralegal and mediator. Seeing clients enter our office helpless but leaving with a smile of satisfaction makes our work worthwhile. My focus is on youth development as I see on a daily basis youth who are involved in gangsterism and substance abuse. I see girls as young as 13 years old getting pregnant. Unemployment and a lack of skills also play a role in youth joining gangs and teenage pregnancies. Our services help decrease the problems youth are facing. We reach more than 300 youth with our Youth Camps, 100 people with our Leadership Skills workshops, and we reach about 500 participants with our Labour Act workshop. Our passion is to save and develop young people, giving them opportunity and hope.
A young man visited our office after he was unfairly dismissed without any compensation. We handled his case and he received the money that was rightfully owed to him. He first became a volunteer and is now a permanent worker at our offices. He is also part of the annual Dullah Omar School of training for paralegals and is part of SCAT’s capacity building workshops. We, STEP UP Association, managed to give a voice to the young man and now he is giving a voice and hope to many other young people. The organisation played a potent role in my life. I found my own voice and become a qualified paralegal and mediator. The work we do in the local community and amongst youth is bringing a visible positive change to their lives. SCAT played a vital role in the organisation by given monetary, emotional, and mentoring support through their capacity building and good governance workshops. SCAT helped the organisation to grow and get access to other funders. I am so grateful to SCAT for giving us a voice to give a voice to the voiceless!!!!
YOUTH
RuRal Voice ii: 35 stories for 35 years
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