The cool weather came as a welcome respite from the summer heat at a joyful graduation ceremony held at the Shakashead Community Centre on Friday, November 12. Forty-one hospitality students swayed and sang together as they celebrated what was a memorable day for each of them.
Based at the Shakashead Community Centre, Working2Gether is a non-profit organisation which has taken up employment and skills training as the channel through which it provides hope for community members by improving the vocational opportunities afforded them.
Partnering with the eLan Foundation, Working2Gether joined African Bank and Sentinel Training Academy to train this group of enthusiastic young adults recruited from the community.
Identifying the district of Ilembe as a beneficiary of their CSI Programme, African Bank found that levels of poverty and unemployment were increasingly prevalent in the area. The bank believes these challenges could be drastically diminished by the introduction of skills training.
Satisfied
Angus Herselman, the executive responsible for CSI at African Bank, said the company was committed to seeing long-term significant change in the community and would not move to another area until they were satisfied that their social upliftment goals had been met successfully.
The exciting news is that Sentinel Training Academy has guaranteed employment in the hospitality industry for every graduate, thrilling news for the students who are eager to put into practice their newly acquired skills in the working world.
Once the students received their well-deserved certificates, the festivities continued with the opening of the newly constructed training facility. African Bank also funded the building of a skills training room which will see many more students trained in various disciplines in coming months.
For more information about Working2Gether, contact Sharon Wood on 083 272 9594 or sawood@hotmail.co.uk