FutureLife-Now! Newsletter: Edition 6 2021
Welcome to the sixth in a series of FutureLife-Now! newsletters, designed to share information, good practices and lessons learnt related to the education, health and development of young people in the SADC Region. Whether you are a young person, a teacher, a health worker, a parent or caregiver, or policy maker, we hope that you will find this enjoyable and useful reading.
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Renewing Commitment to Young People || Eastern and Southern Africa Recommitting Today for a Better Africa Tomorrow!
Comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) and youth-friendly sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) services are critical to the health and wellbeing of adolescents and young people. When access to CSE and SRHR services are restricted, the consequences are detrimental, especially for girls’ health and rights. The past two years of school disruptions and COVID-19 lockdowns demonstrate this phenomenon, as the region is witnessing rising numbers of adolescent girls and young women who have become pregnant during the COVID-19 lockdown period. Such stories demand heightened attention to ensuring adolescents and young people have access to CSE and …Not Enough Desks? Build Your Own! || Learners Empowered with Woodworking Skills at Chibombo Secondary
A shortage of desks posed a challenge for Chibombo Boarding Secondary School – especially in light of COVID-19 and the need to social distance. The school reached out to the FutureLife-Now! Programme for assistance. But the request was not for ready-made desks. Instead, it was for wood, metal and paint – the materials needed to build their own desks. Built in 1986, Chibombo Boarding Secondary School is one of the oldest boarding schools in Zambia. Initially accommodating 300 learners, the school’s popularity has grown in leaps and bounds. Situated in the central part of the Chibombo …Umbwi Secondary School Learners Count Their Chickens || Poultry Farming Initiative Provides Bursary Support for Learners
What do you do when over 50 learners need bursaries and there is only enough funding for 20% of them? If you are a learner at Umbwi Secondary School based in Dedza, Malawi, you start a poultry farming project to raise the necessary funds. The school is solely dependent on government funding, and there is never enough money to support the many poverty-stricken learners who attend the school. For example, from the 2020 Form 1 selection list, the school had 53 learners who needed bursary support, but only enough money to provide bursaries to 11 learners. …You Are Not Alone || Roses of Hope Lends a Hand to Vulnerable Learners
It was a brave young girl named Shannel Dhiriza who prompted learners at Murape Secondary School to start the “Roses of Hope-Murape” club. The purpose of the club is to fundraise for vulnerable learners at the school who need a helping hand. It is estimated that 8 800 children lose one or both parents, or their primary caregiver, every year in Zimbabwe1. This has led to many child- and youth-headed households, where young people are left to live alone and look after themselves. However, without an economically active adult, these children face overwhelming challenges. One such …Boys’ Pledge to Lead by Example || Boy’s Vulnerability Dialogue Ends with Pledges to do Things Differently.
“As a young man I commit to never laugh at any of the girls when they have problems but instead to help them.” “As a young man I commit never to disrespect old people and girls.” These are just two examples of the pledges made by the male learners at Matholeng High School in Lesotho on 18 and 19 September, 2021, at the conclusion of a boys’ vulnerability dialogue, organized by FutureLife-Now!, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and Training. More than 80 boys participated in the interactive dialogue and all wrote and read out …