On May the 7th, LEMOSA (the Learners Movement of South Africa) hosted its 4th Career Exhibition in Delft. Various organisations were invited to display at the career exhibition and FunDza was invited to present as well. Other organisations there were: AFDA, Mancosa, Unisa, False bay college, College of Cape Town, NYDA, Iziko Museums, W&RSETA, SEDA, iCollege and the Department of Basic Education.
The day began with organisations setting up their exhibition space. Then a group of learners came in with their teachers. Five schools had been invited, but only Leiden High School attended.
The program started with Asavela Peko, leader of LEMOSA, welcoming everyone to the exhibition and thanking the organisations for making themselves available for the day. After Asavela spoke he welcomed on the stage Noloyiso Kebeni to introduce the exhibition and educate people more on what LEMOSA is all about and the different programs they offer.
Asavela requested various organisations to give a brief introduction about who they are and the work they do. The first to speak was FunDza. Before Nandipha Tshabane introduced FunDza, Asavela mentioned that he himself has been published as a writer with FunDza.
Nandi explained what FunDza is all about and what FunDza has to offer and she encouraged students to come to the table so that we could give them more information. One of the main messages she stressed was how FunDza can benefit learners through their academic journey beyond just enabling them to read and write.
A motivational video was played, with Denzel Washington delivering a speech in Dillard University in USA. One of the ideas in the video that was resonated with me was that if you want to succeed in life you should never be afraid of failing, and moreover, you must live your dreams and vision.
After the video, Advocate Gregory Solik was invited to speak and motivate learners as a key-note speaker. He is a law graduate from University of Cape Town and has worked at the Constitutional Court. One of the key things Advocate Gregory mentioned was that the road to success is not easy, but one of the things I liked which he said to the students was that he hopes one day that the students could live their dreams.
Asavela then directed the exhibitors and participants so that learners could explore the exhibition. The students came to our stall and we gave them more information about FunDza, and how FunDza can add value to their lives. We came across prospective writers and also a teacher who came and was happy to find somewhere to direct those learners who have writing abilities and wish to get published. Also a librarian came and said she has a group of writers she knows and would like FunDza to assist with that. She took our contact details and said she will contact us soon.
We also managed to show the learners how to navigate FunDza’s mobi site as we had brought a dongle in order to connect to the internet. The learners really enjoyed the idea of being able to read on laptops, phones and computers. The interaction with the learners with the mobi site proved to be one of the most exciting activity for the FunDza table. Also the idea of being published really impressed the learners and teachers that visited the FunDza table.
At the end a teacher thanked everyone saying she was grateful for opportunities offered to the students. The exhibition came to an end and Asavela gave a vote of thanks. It was a great learning experience for everyone.