The Kliptown Youth Programme (KYP) held a celebratory gala dinner in honour of the programme’s 2020 matriculants. The event was held at the Capital One Hotel in Melrose Arch. The former matric learners were treated to a glamorous night with meals and before receiving certificates in recognition of their work in the 2020 academic year.
KYP’s co-founder, Thando Bezana highlighted the importance of the event.
“The matric celebration is always important because most of our children cannot afford to attend their matric dance. It is an opportunity for them to dress up and celebrate their achievements and to be celebrated. It is also an opportunity for us to embrace these young women and men because they have done so well to make it this far,” she said.
The class of 2020 faced the most unusual of all recent academic years due to the covid 19 pandemic. Bezana admitted that the year had been a challenging one.
“It was a challenging time as learners could not attend school and difficult learning experiences for our members which affected their academics as we could not, at the time, open our centre to offer support due to the covid-19 restrictions,” she said.
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During the hard academic year, the KYP made efforts to support learners and families through the provision of food parcels.
“We had to also look into our members’ families since they were also stranded and did not have much in terms of sourcing food and making ends meet. We then took it upon ourselves to offer support by tapping into our contacts and friends to ensure that our members and families are taken care of through our food parcel distribution,” she said.
Bezana also extended gratitude to all stakeholders who have ensured the continued success of the programme.
“We would like to thank every individual that has been involved in ensuring that our matric celebration becomes a success. More especially, to people who donated their skills in terms of make-up and donating clothes. We also want to send a big vote of thanks to the board of directors, parents of our members, and our members themselves for believing in us. To the KYP staff members and management who make the work we do possible every single day,” she concluded.
The KYP is scheduled to host its 14th Birthday celebration on May 27 later this year.
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