Voices of the Youth: Samandla Mfumbata

My journey with Aspire has been  the best thing that has happened in my life.  Like many young South Africans my life has been hard. The hard things in my life are mine to share with people I trust, not to be written on a piece of paper for all to read. My life started to change when I joined AspireYouth. I met Ros, she is what we call a Guide. Maybe a bit like a mother or an older sister or a teacher. She can be kind, but she is also very firm. Ros understands us because she also knows how hard life can be.

In the first part of AspireYouth we were taught many things, we learnt about communication, about self-worth, we learnt how to write a CV and we learnt about how to run a business. Some of it was hard, but a lot of it was fun. It was good to come to these sessions, be with our team and laugh. Later on we realised that we could also cry together and support each other.

Good things started to happen. I got an internship with First Jobs, I got my license, I was selected to be part of the AspireYouth Incubator. This last thing allowed me to start my own business; Sammy's Beauty Bar. I am now also employed at AspireYouth for 4-days a week to help other young people.

I want to say this, hard things still happen in my life. The difference - I am better able to deal with the bad stuff and I know that I have people around me, Ros and other people of AspireYouth, who are there to support, guide and yes make me laugh even on the days that feel very hard.