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\nBorn and raised in the northern Karoo town of De Aar, Chardin experienced what many matriculants are subject to: Little prospect of further education, and no jobs to secure their economic livelihood. Where many young people would flounder \u2013 substance abuse, child neglect, crime and a host of other social ills plaguing previously disadvantaged communities throughout the country \u2013 Chardin was fortuitously drawn into the Community Development Workers (CDW) Programme funded by Solar Capital.
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\nCDWs are public servants whose purpose is to strengthen the coordination between services provided by Government and access to these services by previously disadvantaged communities. \u201cThere are many CDWs serving the Emthanjeni Municipality where I live. We have meetings once a week and, on average, 24 people from the community, young and old, are in attendance. The meetings are co-faciliated by myself and my colleague Janet Matthee; to a degree, you can call it group therapy. As you can imagine, many issues arise, and where necessary we refer cases to social workers or psycohologists \u2013 people who are more skilled or qualified than us to be of assistance.On a personal level the programme also aims to boost the self-confidence of the participants involved, as well as assist them in developing sought after workplace skills.\u201d
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\nHaving been a CDW since the start of 2015 \u2013 \u201cit feels wonderful to be able to serve my community in this manner\u201d \u2013 Chardin\u2019s own growth in confidence and progress serve as a shining example.
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\n\u201cI got to know the staff at Solar Capital quite well, including Abner Wagenaar, the Local Economic Development Manager at Solar Capital. Abner called me to see if I was interested in becoming an IT facilitator at the Solar Capital Community Centre in De Aar. Because I had taken IT at school through to matric, this was a great opportunity for me.\u201d
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\nHim and Janet, 23, originally chosen to become facilitators because of their leadership skills, were offered a month-long online computer and IT literacy training course through Vaal University of Technology.
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\n\u201cWe completed this course and are now assisting anyone who comes to the Community Centre with any challenges they may have with using the computers or free Wifi at the centre.I can help people learn, improve their grades at school, and use the Internet to be creative, start their own initiatives or find jobs for themselves. It\u2019s very satisfying.
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\n\u201cDoing the CDW training as well as the course made me look at the world differently. It taught me that you can\u2019t just wait for your circumstances to change, you have to get out there and make opportunities work for you.
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\n\u201cI also learnt a lot about myself and developed a greater sense of self-worth. I was shy before this and didn\u2019t enjoy discussing issues with strangers, but through this programme I learnt how to express myself and open up to people.I now know I\u2019m capable of not only changing my own circumstances, but also helping other people. All circumstances are changeable. Don\u2019t let yourselves drown in them. There is always hope.\u201d
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\nHow does he view the future of South African youth?
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\n\u201cI think there is hope through education. Many young people I know just sit at home and don\u2019t even go to school, they use drugs and they rob people. Young people must first finish school to enable themselves to get into the working world, but they must also open up their minds to further information available to them on the Internet. You can learn just about anything online, including doing online tertiary courses, if you are given this opportunity. By being exposed to different viewpoints you are able to learn and improve your own life and be happier than you were before. Our youth need to learn that success is not easy, you need to work for it. If they are guided in the right direction, this generation will be able to achieve a lot more than they believe they are capable of.\u201d
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![\"Chardin_Booysen\"](\"http:\/\/www.solarcapital.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/Chardin_Booysen.jpg\")
\nChardin Booysen at the Solar Capital IT facility in the Community Centre, De Aar<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"