Zaimy Nakale, a 16-year-old participant at KAYEC’s FNB-sponsored centre in Rundu, joins an after-school life skills session about online safety, 5 August 2016. He credits KAYEC for helping him pass his Grade 10 exams: “KAYEC contributed to my studies, pressuring me to study more, and stick to my passion … When I got my result, I was very happy, running around, jumping up and down, screaming all over the community.” What’s the most important he can share with others, as a youth leader? “Always talk to them about education, because without education they will mess up their life and they won’t get even a proper job. Encourage them even more to come at KAYEC, instead of going in the streets, smoking or doing bad things.”

THE SUN: FNB-KAYEC partnership “a good investment”

Meet the youths building Rundu’s future, through a KAYEC school support centre funded by FNB.

Zaimy Nakale, a 16-year-old participant at KAYEC’s FNB-sponsored centre in Rundu, joins an after-school life skills session about online safety, 5 August 2016. He credits KAYEC for helping him pass his Grade 10 exams: “KAYEC contributed to my studies, pressuring me to study more, and stick to my passion … When I got my result, I was very happy, running around, jumping up and down, screaming all over the community.” What’s the most important he can share with others, as a youth leader? “Always talk to them about education, because without education they will mess up their life and they won’t get even a proper job. Encourage them even more to come at KAYEC, instead of going in the streets, smoking or doing bad things.”
Zaimy Nakale, a 16-year-old participant at KAYEC’s FNB-sponsored centre in Rundu, joins an after-school life skills session about online safety, 5 August 2016. He credits KAYEC for helping him pass his Grade 10 exams: “KAYEC contributed to my studies, pressuring me to study more, and stick to my passion … When I got my result, I was very happy, running around, jumping up and down, screaming all over the community.”
 
What’s the most important he can share with others, as a youth leader? “Always talk to them about education, because without education they will mess up their life and they won’t get even a proper job. Encourage them even more to come at KAYEC, instead of going in the streets, smoking or doing bad things.”

On 17 August 2016, the Namibian Sun reported that the partnership between KAYEC and First National Bank Namibia, to provide after-school support for 142 Rundu learners since September 2015, “is proving to be a good investment” for the northern Namibia town. Reporter Denver Isaacs cited results from FNB Namibia, announcing that “no school dropouts had followed its support … schools in the area typically faced a scourge of teenage pregnancies which caused girls to drop out of school at a rate 1.4 times higher than the national average.”

In her full statement to the press, FNB Corporate Social Investment Manager Revonia Kahivere explained why they chose to throw their support behind KAYEC’s education initiatives: “Youth enterprise development and education and training are part of our President’s Harambee plan and we support this plan to educate as many Namibians as possible so that they can become employees or employers.” FNB concentrates on five pillars for development nationwide: Education & Financial Literacy; Skills & Capacity Development; Sport, Art & Culture; Community & Health Development; and Environmental Guardianship.

Read on to meet more youth leaders from KAYEC’s Rundu centre – and for more about them from around the web.

Soneha Antonio Pedro, 21-year-old graduate of KAYEC’s Rundu youth centre, shows off an environmentally friendly mining design he built as a second-year civil engineering student at NUST, 3 August 2016. “You have to keep the environment and the business in equilibrium. Basically civil engineering is just about being innovative.” While participating at the KAYEC youth centre, Antonio was able to skip Grade 9 – and on this project, his group received 90 percent. According to Ms. Benedikta Kamunoko, Acting Deputy Director of the Rundu office of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare, “KAYEC is the only youth organisation left in Rundu – I don’t know what we’d do without them.” This year, Rundu schools invited KAYEC to facilitate life skills for an extra 818 students, and social workers teamed with KAYEC to arrange outreach in Sauyemwa and to receive youths with drug problems.  Soneha thanks FNB for showing “they also care for the community. If others can follow in FNB’s footsteps, we’ll be fine.”
Soneha Antonio Pedro, 21-year-old graduate of KAYEC’s Rundu youth centre, shows off an environmentally friendly mining design he built as a second-year civil engineering student at NUST, 3 August 2016. “You have to keep the environment and the business in equilibrium. Basically civil engineering is just about being innovative.” While participating at the KAYEC youth centre, Antonio was able to skip Grade 9 – and on this project, his group received 90 percent.
 
According to Ms. Benedikta Kamunoko, Acting Deputy Director of the Rundu office of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare, “KAYEC is the only youth organisation left in Rundu – I don’t know what we’d do without them.” This year, Rundu schools invited KAYEC to facilitate life skills for an extra 818 students, and social workers teamed with KAYEC to arrange outreach in Sauyemwa and to receive youths with drug problems. Soneha thanks FNB for showing “they also care for the community. If others can follow in FNB’s footsteps, we’ll be fine.”
Sara Ndara, 14-year-old participant at KAYEC’s Rundu youth centre, helps younger Clara Katewa with her math homework as a peer mentor, 5 August 2016. The top student in her class, Sara dreamed of joining a youth club like the ones she saw on NBC - but there were none nearby until KAYEC moved to her location under FNB funding. Small afternoon sessions give Selma a chance to express herself that she doesn't get in her class of 47: "You’ll be given a chance to say what you want - like to talk about teenage pregnancies and peer pressure. They’ll learn more about them themselves than watching on television." Clara’s mother, Leticia, says her daughter has taken a new interest in school after just a month-and-a-half with KAYEC's staff and older teens: “She was having trouble with math, but now I can see there’s improvement."
Sara Ndara (right), 14-year-old participant at KAYEC’s Rundu youth centre, helps younger Clara Katewa with her math homework as a peer mentor, 5 August 2016. The top student in her class, Sara dreamed of joining a youth club like the ones she saw on NBC – but there were none nearby until KAYEC moved to her location under FNB funding. Small afternoon sessions give Selma a chance to express herself that she doesn't get in her class of 47: “You’ll be given a chance to say what you want – like to talk about teenage pregnancies and peer pressure. They’ll learn more about them themselves than watching on television.”
 
Clara’s mother, Leticia, says her daughter has taken a new interest in school after just a month-and-a-half with KAYEC's staff and older teens: “She was having trouble with math, but now I can see there’s improvement.”
Petrus Namadiko, 21-year-old graduate of KAYEC’s Rundu youth centre, teaches the Grade 2 Rukwangali class at Rundu Junior Primary School, 5 August 2016. He will start his education degree soon - and meanwhile, the teaching strategies that he learned at KAYEC already equip him to lead the class. Every weekday afternoon at KAYEC, two full-time KAYEC youth staff and a team of 15 skilled volunteers offer academic enrichment to the next generation of learners like Namadiko, focusing on math, English and accounting, plus sports, agriculture, culture, leadership training and discussion of relationships that builds on what learners get in school. Today, other teachers have already adopted Namadiko's language-learning methods. Says Principal Kerttau Aisindi: “He’s good! He knows how to communicate with learners.”
Petrus Namadiko, 21-year-old graduate of KAYEC’s Rundu youth centre, teaches the Grade 2 Rukwangali class at Rundu Junior Primary School, 5 August 2016. He will start his education degree soon – and meanwhile, the teaching strategies that he learned at KAYEC already equip him to lead the class.
 
Every weekday afternoon at KAYEC, two full-time KAYEC youth staff and a team of 15 skilled volunteers offer academic enrichment to the next generation of learners like Namadiko, focusing on math, English and accounting, plus sports, agriculture, culture, leadership training and discussion of relationships that builds on what learners get in school. Today, other teachers have already adopted Namadiko’s language-learning methods. Says Principal Kerttau Aisindi: “He’s good! He knows how to communicate with learners.”

See what others are saying about this story
Read the full piece from the Namibian Sun
Hear some more from Soneha and Sara in the Namibian Economist and Confidente
The Namibia Press Agency adds figures on learner pass rates

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