Bringing Hope to Swaziland and Beyond

Youth at Vusweni Hard at Work

Claypotts Trust is making the dreams of 22 year old Wandile Future Shabangu and the young people of Vusweni come true in many ways.

Wandile is the leader of the youth in his church, Strong Tower under the leadership of Pastor Shongwe. Concerned about the plight of the high number of orphaned youth in his church, Wandile decided to find ways of helping these youth people with their needs and help keep them in school. He had a dream of starting an income generating project that would not only help them with school fees but also keep them busy on weekends and holidays. The project was started in 2011, after Wandile contacted Pastor Ken and asked for financial assistance to start a vegetable growing business. They had a very good yield and found a market in neighbouring South Africa, as they are situated a few kilometers from the border. The money generated from the sale of the vegetables has been used towards the school fees for 6 of the young people.
This year, the young people have bigger dreams. They were given a bigger area about 800 square metres for the vegetable project and have planted sweet potatoes. These will be ready for sale on May this year and they are looking forward to that.

They also want to embark on a different project, a carpentry business and Pastor Shongwe has offered part of his yard as an area they can put a temporal structure.

Claypotts has committed to helping them with material for the structure which will be made with corrugated iron.
They will be taught by an experienced carpenter who will be dedicating his free time from work to make a few items for them and also at the same time teach them how to make items such as beds, cabinets, chairs. Wandile also mentioned that the community is already showing support for this project as they have started making orders of items they want the young people to make for them, even before they start! This project is also targeted at the out of school youth of the church, most of whom have finished high school and are applying to tertiary institutions to further their education. Wandile himself is currently applying for his study permit to study in South Africa soon.