Betty Moleya
Pretoria - It was a joyous moment for 13 women who graduated from Basadi Ba Moshito (BBM) Foundation skills development programme in an event held at the Lyttelton Library in Centurion on Saturday evening.
The women received certificates for different and various skills they learned in the programme.
The skills included beauty therapy, sewing, baking, cooking, farming and entrepreneurial skills.
The ladies benefitted from the opportunity to upskill and develop themselves in order to access employment and entrepreneurial opportunities.
They also received awards for the roles they played while in the programme.
Chief executive of BBM Antoinette Maluleke said the programme started in Women’s Month (August) and ended in November.
Participants were the first graduates of the programme as the organisation was only founded in April this year.
“We are not funded by anyone, we are still looking for funding. When we started this programme we only had two laptops for computer skills. We also helped them with job readiness and how to write CVs so that they can be employable,” said Maluleke.
The candidates were chosen based on their background and personality. They applied and interviews were conducted.
Deputy director at the Gauteng Community Safety Dr Connie Ramathibela commended women for finishing the programme as it started with 30 candidates but only 13 made it to the end.
“Congratulations to the class of 2021 and this celebration could not have come at a better time as we commemorate 16 days of activism of no violence against women and children, said Ramathibela, who also spoke about the impact of gender-based violence and how it affected victims.
Some of the women were able to get jobs and internships just before the programme came to an end.
Mosidi Teme, one of the graduates, said: “I could not find any employment and the BBM foundation has helped me to find my passion and I would like to open up my business.”
Pretoria News