enke Alumni aspiring writers of #YouthLedChange

enke Alumni aspiring writers of #YouthLedChange

The circle turns for three young enke alumni who are aspiring writers, tapping into their journalistic potential by capturing and writing insightful articles on youth who are leading change for themselves and in their communities. Katlego Llale, Thabang Matona, and Virginia Mashiane first joined the enke family in 2015-16. Today they are writing about others in enke’s latest project, Storytellers of Youth-led Change. The project was developed to give the youths a place to share the impact enke has made on them and continues to have on them while letting the rest of the world in on that experience too. The writers were given support, feedback and mentoring after submission of their stories and only the best of the best have been selected for publishing.

The first budding writer Katlego Llale entered Stories of #YouthLedChange with her story about Tebogo Mogakwe entitled, ‘Unleashing unexpected potential’.

Since joining enke as a Catalyst in 2016, Katlego has been building her career, working as an editor for a Cape Town publishing house.  She has continued her association with enke, first as a 2017 Igniter and then by joining the Facilitator Roster, an opportunity for trained youth to gain experience and part time work as facilitators in enke projects, and currently as a Trailblazer Support Team (TST) intern. Katlego loves writing and plans to advance her copywriting skills in the next year.

Next, ever ambitious Thabang wrote TWO stories.  The first story entitled, ‘Never Too Much For A True Leader‘ is about Lwazi Knowledge Khumalo. The second story is about, Sthembiso Ntuli in, ‘Non-Stop Leadership‘.

During his time as a Trailblazer, Thabang started a community action project (CAP) known as the ‘Lwazi Youth for Youth Knowledge Hub’. Thabang is due to matriculate from Kwa-Mahlobo Secondary School at the end of this year and shows no sign of slowing down. In 2018 he hopes to become an Igniter, continue running his CAP, and  commence his studies at the African Leadership Academy.

Finally, Virginia has written about Boitumelo Rammego in the post entitled,  ‘The Rising Star of Lamula Jubilee Secondary School: Boitumelo’s Story‘.

Virginia joined enke in 2015 as an Igniter. Since then, she has become a TST intern, a 2016 Catalyst facilitator, joined the 2017 enke Facilitator Roster and been involved in several Generate and Navigate workshops. Virginia is currently completing her honours in English Literature at the University of the Witwatersrand.

The success of these stories lies in how the authors have captured the work of their peers and attached meaning and insight into the journey of youth in enke programs. The Storyteller project was about capturing the experience of participants from the perspective of youth rather than our own. It is part of our participatory approach to learning about the impact that enke and our programs have in the lives of youth. The articles these amazing young writers have produced don’t just show that enke works, they also show that investing in youth-led change and believing in youth makes a difference.

Find out how you can support stories of #YouthLedChange at www.enke.co.za