It was in 2016 when students coming from marginalized rural areas took an initiative to rise against the common circumstances that African children are faced with.
Having been born and bred in the rural villages of Tzaneen and lived through the demanding circumstances whereby there’s no culture of learning and community development we took an initiative to create an empowerment platform by the name of Forum For Empowerment to eradicate many of the social ills plaquing us as youth.
Lack of information, infrastructure support and career guidance has motivated the formation of “Forum For Empowerment” which started it’s empowerment talks in March 2017.
Our mandate is concentrated on learning and community development especially in rural areas whereby there’s a need for the society to fully invest in activities that will empower the youth and the needy.
We have identified a need to revisit our circuit area and even beyond the province to inspire back the confident that is vital in creating a community that is informed.
In March 2017 we provided 450 university and NSFAS applications forms to 6 high schools in Bolobedu South namely Boke High, Maloti Secondary, Matjeke High, Matokane Secondary, Fobeni High and Stanley Mopai Secondary School.
We addressed the social economic challenges that are critical in the upbringing of the youth; drugs, excessive consumption of alcohol, gender based violence, bullying,crime,life beyond grade 12 and matters relating thereof.
We have taken it upon ourselves to empower the youth with responsible conduct and proper preparations beyond matric tenure which includes the importance of furthering their studies in universities and colleges even by means of funding the application fee from our personal financial capacity which is unsustainable to achieve the latter goals; therefore there is a need for financial resources to support the objectives of the organization.
On the 4th of August 2017 we held a dialogue against gender based violence against women and violence in Tshwane University of Technology (Soshanguve Campus) in conjunction with the directorate of Student Governance and Leadership Development; bringing awareness of caring and tendering for our women and children. We believe that as men we have a crucial role in shaping our society to a more advanced station through taking responsibility and caring for one another without having to resort to all sorts of violence.
On the 13th of October 2017 we will be hosting a career exhibition expo and donation of sanitary towels to disadvantaged students at Boke High and surrounding high schools namely; Fobeni and Maloti Secondary School.
The main objective of the sanitary pads campaign is to instill confidence andbring back dignity to a girl child especially since we are heading towards the upcoming final exams and beyond. We believe that sanitary pads are a basic and essential need to our disadvantaged youth who sometimes miss classes at schools when it’s their time of the month. These are natural circumstances and as such they should not be left unattended.
The rate of unemployment and illiteracy is high in most of the surrounding villages.
A culture of learning and development is a myth than when compared to the culture of entertainment (alcohol and drugs) which contribute nothing but only deepen the existence of poverty and crime. At the other hand female pupils that are economically handicapped, are tempted to fall prey to the phenomenon of so called “blessers” and the boys lacking guidance are associated with petty crimes or even beyond when not guided properly and given adequate support.
We hope to bring hope and courage to this matric class of 2017 and provide courage and knowledge where a need be. We believe that the provision of sanitary towels will bring dignity and courage to our sisters especially taking into consideration the fact that,they will be writing in 2/3 weeks from the said date.
As a new organization that is not affiliated to anybody we appeal to all the society at large,small business owners, government, private sector,churches and NGO,s to support this initiative of enhancing the upbringing of a black child. With that we call on everyone wishing to play a part in this event/initiative to please contact Hlapi Seshoeni at 078 973 6049 / email Hlapi8701.ns@gmail.com or Silence Masiye at 072 048 4138 / emailMasiyesilence@gmail.com for more information regarding career exhibition and donation of sanitary pads event.www.ffore.org.za
