YISS turns 7 in Women's Month - a double celebration!
Author: YISS
On 22nd August 2023, YISS celebrated our 7th birthday, in conjunction with honouring our elderly ladies within our Hanover Park community, our NPO partners, who are predominantly women, and also women who are special standouts within our community.
Let's not forget our very important sponsors Uthando SA, Kwanza of the Ardagh group and Western Cape Department of Social Development (DSD) who all form an essential part of our lifeblood and well-being through their consistent financial support.
Let's first enlighten our readers briefly about YISS:
YISS was established in 2015, with our primary purpose directed at youth rescue and development in order to reduce the social impact of poverty, crime, gangsterism, unemployment, prostitution, drug abuse and the likes, within our local poverty stricken communities such as Hanover Park, Manenberg and surrounding Metro regions such as Langa, Nyanga, Gugulethu, Khayelitsha, Mfuleni, Mitchell’s Plain, Lavender Hill, Atlantis, Delft, Philippi, Heideveld, etc.
We offer a 35 day programme which covers 2 skill sets, a) Hospitality, Baking and Beverage training and, b) Hairdressing, Barber and Beauty training.
Further aspects such as life skills, business training, career guidance, character building and personal grooming, together with parenting workshops, mentorship and coaching of our students, motivational talks / workshops and aftercare, are all elements which are firmly entrenched in our programmes.
Our expected outcome is to see a significant paradigm shift within the mentality and characters of our students as a first priority, together with their skill sets which they have been taught during their period in the YISS programme. The students graduate after successful completion of the programme which also requires them to each give back 200 hours of voluntary input into their relevant communities. This exercise is meant for the students to show gratitude and also to appreciate, and to test what they have been taught, by offering peer to peer learning exercises to new students.
The rewards of their commitment and dedication is topped off on graduation day with a weighty graduation certificate, their professionally self-designed business brochure, and a tool kit which is meant to set them up for entrepreneurship in their chosen skill set.
YISS to-date, boasts a success rate of 69%, having positively influenced, and laid a firm foundation and launching pad for more than 300 students who have successfully participated in our life-changing programmes. We have numerous success stories to back this up.
Hanover Park and surrounds is better off as we change and deter youth on a daily basis from entering into a life of crime, drug abuse and gangsterism. Together with our donors and partners we are changing lives for good.
Now back to our Women of Valour:
After all, August is Women's Month. Let's start with our staff contingent. YISS has 19 personnel, of whom 17 are women. We have 7 permanent staff with the rest serving as volunteers.
It is important to note that our community faces many social challenges, therefore every effort made to reduce these issues needs to be commended.
It is for this reason that our women, who are at the forefront of these battles, needs to be recognized and singled out. YISS has therefore set aside this specific time to honour our women of valour, our faithful pillars of strength, for without their commitment to our Hanover Park cause, many a youngster would have perished.
YISS acknowledges the sacrifice of your blood, sweat, tears, perseverance and endless fight for safety, security, peace and prosperity and justice to be realized in this bullet stricken war zone.
Our Senior Club ladies, The Fairy Godmother Project, Alcardo Andrews Foundation (AAF), EBL ladies, Reach Out Foundation (Shamielah’s Marching Band), our Accredited Neighbourhood Watch Groups who are all predominantly ladies, Hanover Roses, DASSA (Ward48), Cycle of a Woman and last but not least our entire YISS team, including our very active Board of Directors.
Ladies, we salute you. Take a bow.
In closing, we appeal to all our NPO’s to intensify their efforts as we strive to rid our communities of these spirits of deception and destruction.
We cry out for churches and mosques to become relevant to the ongoing battles and challenges within our communities and appeal to all spiritual leaders to set the example by utilizing our God given tools of spiritual warfare ie fasting, prayer and righteous living with maximum effect and in order to lay the foundation of favour and divine intervention from our heavenly hosts.
We trust and pray that our local CPF, Law enforcement and SAPS institutions become relevant to the key challenges that we face as a community, and that they will come to realize and execute their responsibilities with effectiveness, conviction, urgency and integrity.
May our communities be united in our commitment to bringing justice, safety and security, hope, peace and prosperity, healing and Godliness into our society