Keeping young people’s dreams alive and helping them get to where they hope to be is the Market Photo Workshop’s mission.
The organisation joined forces with Isibindi Projects to teach young people around KwaGuqa.
An initiative called the Emalahleni Participatory Photography and Mobile Journalism Project was conducted to teach the young people more about journalism and photography.
The two-week program started on April 19 and ended on April 29.
An exhibition of the student’s work will be showcased on May 12.
The aim of the project is to depict the socio-economic living and working conditions of identified ‘micro communities’ within eMalahleni as well as to highlight their plight in terms of human rights, mining and environmental vulnerability issues, and to raise awareness amongst the local population and key stakeholders on the importance of addressing the mining and environmental dynamics of the community.
The project identified 12 young community members to participate in the workshop and to learn more about photography. Some young people spoke about their challenges, which included not being able to further their studies after matric due to financial circumstances.
The facilitators of the program were: Thandile Zwelibanzi (photography facilitator) and Mohammed Tlali (mobile journalism facilitator).
Busiswa Mrasi, the project assistant from the Market Photo Workshop, said that the organisation decided to reach out to eMalahleni to empower young people to tell their stories through cameras and their mobile phones.
“We reached out to Isibindi, which is an organisation which share similar values as us. They were able to locate 12 participants that are interested and willing to learn about journalism and photography,” added Busiswa.
Lerato Sibanyoni (24), one of the participants of the program, said that she has always been interested in studying media and this workshop helped her.
“I can’t wait to go out and use my skills in my community. I am also excited to receive my certificate at the end of the program, and to also acquire more knowledge in the future,” said Lerato.
Thoko Makena from Isibindi Projects said that when the Market Photo Workshop approached her, she was happy as she is very passionate about young children and developing their skills.
“I wish that they could come again to empower other young children who didn’t have the opportunity. I was able to arrange 12 young people who are 18 to 35 years from the community of KwaGuqa and Vosman, who were willing to learn,” concluded Thoko.
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