Rising Sun: A busy Club Meeting and reports from our travellers

Our Guest speaker for this week's meeting was Peter Sadie, of Meriting - one of the projects proposed at our Club Assembly.

Peter Sadie of Meriting with Ian Widdop

Peter started out as a school teacher before establishing Insimbi Training which led to the creation of Meriting, to assist in the facilitation of learning to unemployed previously disadvantaged youth.
Insimbi means "iron" in isiZulu, and Peter found that unemployed young people were not getting the necessary training to assist in obtaining jobs in the labour market.

Meriting was established in 2012 to bridge the gap between school and what skills a company wanted to employ young people. Meriting provides training in business administration and project management in a programme that is SETHA recognised. The programme has a 95% pass rate and goes a long way to meet the challenge of unemployed youth whose marks are not sufficient to meet the requirements of tertiary education. There are entrance tests in basic mathematics and literacy to meet the requirements of the programme.

It was found that the majority of the unemployed young people lacked self confidence and the programme was adjusted to provide them with emotional intelligence, personal mastery skills as well as computer skills prior to the management training. Companies are invited to come on board to sponsor learnerships and are able to claim BEE points and tax rebates. Studies can be tailored to suit the requirements of companies, as Meriting currently offer 72 Setha accredited courses. A future goal is to establish a second centre in the Durban area and funding is required.

The main challenge for the students is finding jobs once they complete the programme. Starting a small business and enterprise development would assist these young people in creating income for themselves as the formal job market is difficult to penetrate in the current economic situation.

With regards to an update on the Donate a Loo project, Dave Marshall and his team are to meet with the owner of the business to assist with a project proposal to access funding through International Rotary Clubs or a Global Grant.

Julian Nagy and Ian Widdop have had a meeting with Tim Bashell of the Link to understand their cost structure and how we can assist through the global grant already obtained.

The Golf Day for 2019 has been scheduled for 8 November at Parkview Golf Club and costs will be similar to last year, (R2400 per 4-ball and R5000 for 18th hole and putting green and R2000 for other hole sponsorships).

PE Chuck and Margaret Weed

President Linda and PP and Treasurer Mike Vink were hosted at the Rotary Club of Webster Groves in St. Louis, Missouri, by PE Chuck and Margaret Weed. RC Webster Groves starts off their meetings with a Pledge of Allegiance to the American flag and instead of the brag, have what they call their Happy Dollar, where you can stand up and say what makes you happy!