Erdiston graduates urged to step up and mentor youth

Graduates of the government’s youth‑mentorship training programme are being urged to put their skills into action and begin engaging young people directly.

The call came from Principal of the Erdiston Teachers’ Training College Dr Colin Cumberbatch on Saturday, as he addressed the recognition ceremony for the first and second cohorts who completed the initiative.

While Dr Cumberbatch praised participants for stepping forward to be trained, he stressed that earning a certificate was only the starting point. He encouraged graduates to become active ambassadors within their communities.

“Our young people represent one of the country’s greatest assets. We cannot afford to lose them,” Dr Cumberbatch stated. “They need leaders who are willing to listen, who can guide without judging, who can inspire without imposing and correct without discouraging.”

Pointing to recent incidents within communities that cast some of the country’s youth in a negative light, he warned that remaining passive at home amounts to inaction.

“If all of us sit back in our homes and say, ‘these young people,’ and nobody makes an attempt to engage and help the young people, we are doing nothing. In fact, by our lack of action, we are doing the wrong thing.”

He challenged each graduate to take concrete steps once they returned to their neighbourhoods, beginning with finding at least one young person to mentor.

Meaningful engagement, he said, requires patience, empathy and a willingness to meet young people where they are rather than expecting immediate change.

“Start with someone,” he advised. “Don’t sit down at home and say, ‘Well, I did the business programme and I got my certificate.’ Get out there, find somebody, but you need to engage them more than once to get them to be willing and prepared to talk to you, but do it.”

(RR)

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