Soweto Learners visit Golden Gate

By Emily Setona

GOLDEN GATE – Phefeni Senior Secondary (SS) school grade 12 learners from Soweto expressed their feelings about the various careers that they got exposed to during their weeklong visit to Golden Gate South African National Park.

According to male learner Junior Thema, and two female learners Thekgo Taukobong and Kutloano Ramotsabe a career in a national park never crossed their mind until they visited Golden Gate. This youth Programme exposes the girl child to the workplace but this year on 14-16 August Golden Gate SANPARKS invited a group of both girls and boys to learn about careers at Golden Gate.

“In this program I learned about various careers, like being a park ranger, working in the human resource department, and I think I would like to join the HR team because I think I will fit in well. I enjoyed my time here because I would like to learn more about nature, and I found this experience to be very interesting,” Taukobong said in an interview with this publication.

“In this program I learned about the SET department which communicates with learners and the community to teach them more about the park and I learned that the SET members fight for the community and that this program was established to help transform the community. I would like to be part of the SET staff because I would like to learn more about the work that they do,” Themba said.

Learners from Phefeni Senior Secondary school in Soweto at Golden Gate for the take a girl child to work programme.

According to Maduvhahafani Matodzi the main aim of the Golden Gate SANPARKS Socio Economic Transformation (SET) department is to teach the young and old about the environment and why it is important to conserve it, the staff that works in this department engages with school children and the community to teach them about the environment.

“Today we are no longer called environmental educators because we go beyond teaching learners about the environment. We also deal with land claims and cultural history and heritage. We engage and guide people out there, we don’t just say don’t cut down trees, but we tell the community why they shouldn’t cut down trees. Our CSI also gives back to the community through different programs,” Matodzi said while addressing the learners during a presentation.