A small group of youth delegates and their mentors are looking forward to embarking on an informative career workshop in Boston, USA after flying there this week.

The learners hail from various areas which include: Lotus River, Grassy Park, Ottery and Phulmani Village and departed from Cape Town International Airport on Monday morning 6 July.

They will all be representing the local non-profit organisation (NPO), Oasis.

Youth delegates

The local delegates are: Shady Jaftha, Zoe Ruiters, Nathan Harrison, Keanu Sampson and Liyanda Narwele alongside their youth leader, Lynn Damons.

Festival26 will bring together approximately 400 young people from 24 countries, providing a platform for cultural exchange, leadership development, global citizenship, youth empowerment, and international networking, from Sunday, 5 July to Monday, 13 July.

Oasis has been invited to participate as a member of the global Common Goal network.

The selected participants have been chosen to represent their communities and South Africa on a global stage, where they will gain valuable leadership skills, experience different cultures, and return inspired to create positive change in their communities.

Oasis “Reach For Your Dreams” is a Schaapkraal-based non-profit organisation founded in 2000 that uses sports, specifically football and netball, to empower youth and marginalised communities.

Skill development

They provide life skills training, violence prevention programmes, and community upliftment to at-risk youth.

The NPO is committed to developing children, youth, and adults, and was appealing last month to the public to help send eight young delegates to Festival26.

The group recently achieved its fundraising goal for the tour which was set at R240 000 and is thrilled to be sending their youth delegation, according to founder Clifford Martinus.

“We appreciate all the bits and pieces of support that came through, the BackaBuddy programmes and personal donations,” he added.

Zoe said she was overjoyed after hearing that she was joining the trip.

“This means a lot for me and I’m excited to meet lots of new people and visiting another state because I’ve never been outside of the country,” she said.

Nathan said he couldn’t wait to explore the United States.

“I’m also the first person in my family to go overseas,” he said.

Keanu, who has been with Oasis for 10 years, said he never expected that the tour would materialise.

“I’m excited to meet the participants from a different country and get to know more people,” he said.

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