Church group organises a Career Expo for learners

Organised by the JL Zwane Memorial Church Young Women’s Association , the Career Expo is meant to give pupils from townships schools an opportunity to learn more about a career path they would like to follow as early as possible.

The annual event was held in Gugulethu and according to the organisers it was launched three years ago and brings together educational institutions and private companies to showcase their fields of study to Grade 8 to Grade 12 pupils learners with an intention to encourage them to follow their dreams.

According to Phindi Mlumbi, the chairperson of the Young Women’s Association, they felt that learners from townships do not get the exposure they need to make informed choices about the subjects to study in order to pursue their dream careers. Mlumbi maintains that as a result, learners only start thinking in Grade 12 about what they want to do after school, find their options limited and end up choosing a field they are not interested in, which leads to them becoming dejected.

Learners from various townships schools attended the event. They were very excited, happy that the church hosted a career expo near to where they live. Elitsha spoke to some of them about the career path they want to follow.

A 16-year-old, Grade 12 learner from Fezeka High School in Gugulethu, Thapelo Sibeko, said he wants to be an IT specialist focusing on business intelligence. “I am good with my hands so when my equipment needs to be fixed or serviced, I would not want to send it to a company or person to do it for me. I believe that there are lots of jobs opportunities in this field of study,” said Sibeko.

Ayema Gumede, a Grade 12 learner from Pinelands High School, said he wants to follow in the footsteps of his father who is a farmer in Mpumalanga. He is keen to study agricultural processing because it takes raw materials through to a final product and he thinks the best university to study the course is Stellenbosch.

Kamva Ndevu, a 17-year-old in Grade 12 at Immaculata Girls High, says she is interested in financial accounting, business management or anything that involves business because her mother once owned a business.

Among the stakeholders that attended the event included the University of Cape Town, the National Student Financial Aid Scheme, Cape College, the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) and Eskom.

According to Mlumbi, the event was successful and is growing every year with the stakeholders giving them positive feedback. For next year’s event, she said, they are planning something big.

Maureen Made, a member of the Young Women’s Association, agreed that while the event was very successful, she was disappointed that two big retail companies based at Gugulethu Mall who promised to assist them with food parcels pulled out at the last minute.