Hope is their vehicle to advance change

Published Dec 17, 2015

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Dominic Adriaanse

“Although your life is not what you want it to be, it can change, there is always hope.”

These are the words from Marlon Parker, the founder of Reconstructive Living Labs, or RLabs, on the graduation of more than 2 000 students this past weekend from their RLabs programmes.

RLabs hosted its first Stories of Hope (SOH) festival, which it describes as a “world first”.

Not just in celebration of RLabs’s seven years of existence, it was an exhibition of various artworks telling the story of how, with hope, people changed their lives and culminated in the graduation.

Their programmes include the GROW leadership Academy for ages 18 to 25, the Youth Cafés and Rlabs Academy for all ages, and the GenV for 13 to 17-year-olds.

Their programmes are far-reaching, and students from as far as Atlantis and Wellington in the Boland, come to attend these courses in the hope of improving their lives and futures.

“When people come to apply, there are only two criteria, smile and pay it forward,” said Parker.

Sentiment that when he initiated his first project, it was to change the life of one person in a disadvantaged community, now has culminated into something far-reaching.

RLabs originated in Athlone in 2007, but over time has grown within the Western Cape community and has also inspired similar programmes in more than 22 countries.

Parker considers the SOH festival as a huge success and is still amazed at the greater impact RLabs has had on communities. He shrugs off any praise and considers it a team effort; 90 percent of those involved in the event are graduates who are in their early 20s.

He confirmed that statistically, 84 percent of graduates leave the programmes either economically empowered or owning businesses. The oldest graduate is 80 years old.

Adrienne Fredericks, 21, co-ordinated the event, but reiterated that it was a team effort, considering all the things that go into the planning of such an event.

“Seeing the impact of hope on graduates’ faces, the change in each of them, that’s our motivation,” said Hendricks. She felt her skills through the GROW Leadership Academy empowered her to take on such a task, which she would do again.

Graduate Liana Hendricks, 45, worked in a factory and felt she needed change if she wanted to improve her life and that of her family. She completed six courses through RLabs and says it has empowered her to see a better future. “I walked into the Academy disillusioned and walked out hopeful. Just go there and be empowered, I don’t regret it.”

Kalim Mackey, 24, from Mitchells Plain, is a graduate whose life is the story of many young men in disadvantaged communities. Bad life decisions resulted, for a time, in him being homeless, returning home and falling into the gang and drug culture.

“I will forever bless the day I set foot in the Rockland’s Youth Café. Before that, I was lost and now I know what I want,” said Mackey. Thanks to the aid of RLabs, he is enrolled at the College of Cape Town studying electrical engineering, and he has started his own business.

Parker never dreamt this would be the outcome of his project from where it started, to now looking into digital platforms, perhaps 3D printing and beyond.

He said: It all starts with one act of kindness; change one life, that’s what its all about.” [email protected]

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