Salesian Institute Youth Projects in Cape Town welcomes visit by Lindiwe Zulu, minister of social development of South Africa

(MissionNewswire) Salesian missionaries with the Salesian Institute Youth Projects in Cape Town, South Africa, welcomed a visit by Lindiwe Zulu, minister of social development of South Africa. Zulu visited community organizations in Cape Town that provide education, vocational training and job placement for youth who are affected by the high levels of unemployment in the country.

While at the Salesian Institute Youth Projects, Zulu visited the Learn to Live Skill School, Porsche Mechatronics, Waves of Change Maritime Training, and Youth Work Preparation Program.

Zulu said she was struck by the enthusiasm of the Salesian alternatives offered to unemployed youth from disadvantaged backgrounds. She highlighted that her brothers attended Salesian schools in Eswatini (Swaziland) and noted that she also attended Catholic school.

Since 1910, the Salesian Institute Youth Projects has been helping homeless, unemployed and impoverished youth. Through various programs, Salesian missionaries provide shelter, education and workforce development services in an effort to meet the basic needs of the youth they serve while helping them break the cycle of poverty.

The Salesian Institute Youth Projects provides five main programs that help youth in the region. Programs are an outreach program, a hostel for homeless youth, a learn-to-live education program and two workforce development programs. The programs are managed by a diverse group of individuals, and some live on the premises to support youth in the hostel and outreach programs.

“Salesian Institute Youth Projects offers poor and at-risk youth the opportunity to gain an education in fields they might not otherwise have access to,” said Father Gus Baek, director of Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco. “The courses offer high-quality employees to industries that are hiring while providing students meaningful employment.”

Poverty is extensive in South Africa with more than half the population and more than 63 percent of children living below the poverty line, according to UNICEF. A significant percentage of the population struggles to survive on less than $1 a day. The country is plagued by high crime rates and violence against women and girls and has been the hardest hit by the HIV/AIDS crisis in the world. There is an urgent need for education to help prevent the spread of the deadly virus and to help lift youth out of poverty.

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ANS – South Africa – Minister of Social Development of South Africa visits “Salesian Institute Youth Projects”

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