The Year Beyond Programme offers participants not only an opportunity to learn valuable skills, but also to gain important work experience.
The year-long programme consists of three main components: to serve their communities while gaining a meaningful work experience, personal and professional development and also connects them with mentors who offer the YeBoneers the necessary psychosocial, study and career progression support.
YeBoneers are assisted with bursary applications, drawing up a CV and job applications. Upon completion of the programme, participants receive a Certificate of Service for participating which they can add to their CVs to increase their chances of employment.
The group of YeBoneers based at Hawston Library say they have come a long way since starting the programme. Gail Matinka stated the programme offered a “second chance” for most participants and taught them to find themselves again.
Learning about emotional intelligence, she says, has been an eye-opener.
“It taught us about perseverance and controlling your emotions. I think emotional intelligence is more important than IQ as it helps one deal with different challenges,” she stated.
Matinka said the group also learnt to communicate effectively, to be innovative and goal-oriented, gained self-confidence and an understanding of how to connect with people.
They also do shared reading with primary school learners and bring stories to life for them through songs. This, says Corné Bredenkamp, is very important as it “teaches children to understand what they read”.
“Since we started this, children understand their work better, their marks have improved and more kids come to the library.”
Another aspect YeBoneers enjoy is the Future Fit sessions on Fridays, when they get together to reflect on what they have done.
“We discover how we have developed personally, and we also learn important skills such as how to budget, how to identify problems and finding solutions,” said Ruthy Appel.
They also started a Reader’s Licence campaign to encourage young children to visit the library and read 100 books by November in order to qualify for a nice prize.
To raise funds for these prizes the Hawston YeBoneers will be hosting a Family Fun day from 13:30 to 16:30 on Friday 23 September.
Kids can look forward to fun activities like tug of war, sack races, face painting, netball, soccer and rugby matches, bingo and much more. Toffee apples, sweets, hotdogs and other food will be sold.
Anyone who wishes to contribute prizes for the Reader’s Licence campaign can contact Belinda May on 028 315 1402 or 072 248 3441.