• by Kamo Makwela

Visit to Philippi

In February this year, I flew down to Cape Town to visit our partner and dear friend Cheryl Harper, the founder of We Can Change Our World. We visited the township of Philippi, a severely impoverished environment filled with many youth who need guidance and are doing the best they can with what they have. We met with Hope Africa to discuss ways in which the Resolute Foundation could make an impact in the community. Seeing passionate NPO’S in close proximity with one another and small businesses giving back to the community was nothing short of inspiring. Resources such as a community centre, laptops and internet access could be the difference between a child hanging outside their home after school not knowing what to do, and gaining software developing and engineering skills. Cheryl Harper has a few thoughts. Cheryl Harper. founder of WeCanChangeOurWorld (www.wecanchange.co.za) is a great supporter of Resolute Foundation and teaching Coding and Robotics to our youth, especially to the disadvantaged Youth in townships where unemployment, gangsterism and substance abuse is rife. I have seen Ex-Offenders and School Drop-outs learn coding and robotics and soon become Role Models, finding jobs with huge salaries, which have turned their lives around. This is because of artificial intelligence in the future, is already creating great job opportunities for trained coders and robotics graduates, the demand is already there and will become greater. We need to educate our youth for positions where there will be demand for their services. We recently took Kamohelo Makwela from Resolute Foundation to Philippi on the Cape Flats to visit some Youth Development NGO's and were very well received. We will soon have another workshop and include more organizations who can then include Coding & Robotics in their curriculums to uplift disadvantaged youth at grass roots level. Coding and Robotics can turn our Youth Unemployment crisis around..