LOCAL non-profit organisation Zikulise, is calling on individuals, corporates and businesses to invest in the lives of unemployed individuals.
The NPO currently helps unemployed Zululanders develop skills that equip them in becoming entrepreneurs and better their chances of finding jobs.
Investment into these lives can be made by making donations to Zikulise and also by sponsoring training costs.
The Zikulise Community Upliftment Project Skills Training Centre, operating from the Empangeni Arts and Crafts Centre adjacent to the Empangeni Museum, is currently the hub where unemployed individuals are trained in various skills such as baking, sewing, textile art, traditional bead weaving, ceramics, crafts, hair braiding, grass weaving, business and computer skills.
According to Executive Director Julie Jonson, the NPO offers people a hand up and not a hand out.
‘During the past 12 years more than 5 000 individuals have come through Zikulise’s doors, being equipped to become self-sufficient through income generation.’
Jonson said companies can benefit from supporting and donating towards the Zikulise Project as they are able to issue Section 18a certificates enabling companies to get tax relief as well as valuable BEE points.
One of Zikulise’s many success stories is that of former prison inmate of 14 years, Senzo Cebekhulu.
Cebekhulu, a quietly spoken and humble man, had a dream of becoming an author.
He was released from prison in 2011 and five years later his dream became a reality.
While in prison, Cebekhulu began to write short stories and then began to write his story.
He painstakingly, chapter by chapter, hand wrote out his autobiography, ‘Four Bullets and Poverty’.
Cebekhulu applied to Zikulise for assistance in helping him achieve his dream and was selected to attend a sponsored computer course.
The very next day, after completing the course, he purchased a computer and began typing his story.
After his book was completed and published, Cebekhulu said he felt as if a heavy weight had been lifted as he could share his story and experiences of his incarceration.
‘Through my writing I hope others will learn from my mistakes and not have to experience the harsh reality of having to spend time in prison.
‘I will always be grateful for the skills, assistance and advice I received and continue to receive from Zikulise.’
Cebekhulu is in the process of completing his second book, which he hopes to publish himself.
To find out more about Zikulise, visit their website: www.zikulise.org.za
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