On World Hearing Day, 3 March, some youths living with physical disabilities participated in a learning programme at Ort SA in Houghton.
According to the programme facilitator Thembi Ndlovu, the learners were doing a qualification about end-user computing which is National Qualifications (NQF) Level 3 according to the South African Qualifications Authority.
“It’s a qualification that gets recognised by Media, Information and Communication Technologies Sector Education and Training Authority (MICT Seta) or rather they get certified by MICT Seta. Once they’re done with this qualification, their details will be uploaded on the Seta website and then they get certified and placed in different organisations so that they can have experiential learning which is the practical side of it,” said Ndlovu.
She added that they were currently doing 14 modules where they learnt about how to process documents using Microsoft Word, how to process information using Excel and PowerPoint. Ndlovu said there are also modules about HIV. “We are currently doing Internet email delivery which is about how to create emails and more. This is my second day of meeting the learners and the experience has been good so far.
“They’re cooperating, they’re participating in class and we are doing well. I am so positive that they are grasping the concepts and will apply what they are learning here in their lives or wherever they are going to go from here.”
One of the learners who is deaf, Petrus Bopape, and his signer, Chris Maseko shared how they met. Maseko said he met Bopape at Alexandra where they had enrolled for an introduction to computers course together.
Watch as Petrus Bopape, and his signer, Chris Maseko shared how they met:
“I wanted to learn sign language so I could help myself as well as Petrus to communicate. In class, the teacher couldn’t understand sign language. I thought to myself, I know that I’m good at learning with my hands so I started asking Petrus to teach me sign language,” said Maseko.
He added that it only took him one day to master the basics of sign language. Bopape was motivated by that and started to teach him more. They have been friends for three years now.
Bopape who went to St Vincent School for the Deaf said, “I asked Chris to teach me computers then he, in turn, asked me to teach him to sign language. I love working with computers. The course is easy to learn and I look forward to more practicals.”
Are you hosting any youth empowerment programmes in the community? Invite us by email to naidines@caxton.co.za
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