By Joe-Chintha Garises
KEETMANSHOOP, April 14 – The Keetmanshoop Youth Center Volunteers are a group of youngsters with different interests keen to help the youth get off the streets and focus on the upgrading of the town.
These youth groups include Teaching at The Right Level (TATRL) and Keetmans Youth Initiative (KYI) amongst others.
Speaking to the secretary of the KYI, Asmara Kaffer, and TATRL regional coordinator, Ivon Mueze, they said the biggest challenge other than their financial struggle is getting the youth more involved in their projects and daily educational activities.
The KYI’s first big project was the Selko Must Go project whereby they wanted the local municipality to be the only one supplying them with electricity since Selko was a South African-owned company. Although most of these initiatives have stopped because of Covid-19, and financial struggles, they recently launched a fundraiser to help the municipality improve the community parks for the youth to enjoy their leisure.
Ivan said that they have 34 volunteers in the region and 10 schools that they help. Since TATRL is a regional project the Ministry of Sport, Youth, and National Service is assisting them with transport. They currently have after-school projects that they are running like health education and children’s rights and responsibilities, among others.
“If youth are more involved in their activities crime rates and gangs would lessen,” Ivan said as he already sees the impact their projects have on the current youth that they are working with.
Asmara added: “There haven’t been any big challenges yet but the youth could be more involved and I call on the youth to join the NGO”. – Namibia Daily News