13/01/2025
MARGINS IS STILL PUSHING BOUNDARIES ARE YOU WITH US?
Welcome to 2025 everybody! Margins is still pushing the boundaries of social exclusion. Are you still with us? We are continuing our recruitment drive at Soweto and Roodepoort TVET campuses. We will be running half-day programs with marginalized youth to teach them about the impact of marginalization on their lives and how they can overcome it. The program will also provide the means to incorporate marginalized youth into society so they can access social capital the Black Management Forum student chapter, Tip 1 (B-BBEE) share trading, and corporates offering training, internships, and job opportunities.
In case you are new to Margins, we are a not-for-profit organization that is working to mitigate social exclusion. WE HAVE NEVER BEEN FUNDED AND RELY ON YOUR SUPPORT TO GROW THE MOVEMENT AGAINST SOCIAL EXCLUSION. We need the following:
1. Are you a corporate or community leader? We would love for you to share your success story. Please reach out and join our speakers list or mentor a marginalized youth.
2. The roll-out of Margins programs is dependent on meeting printing cost. If you would like to sponsor the printing of our course material, we get a discounted rate at Minuteman Press Germiston You can pay the printer directly.
3. Does your company offer internships, part-time jobs, or free training? Please join Margins database so we can make your opportunities available to marginalized youth.
4. Would you like to be a Margins Self-Awareness Sponsor? NO MONEY IS INVOLVED Reach out and we will send you a free course pack and we just need you to go out there and spread the word!
If you are still not convinced of the grossly negative impact of social exclusion on the youth of South Africa, please read about Margins ground-breaking research in Inside Education (everyone's go to for news on education) Edwin Naidu Here is an excerpt:
"Dropout is a process where youth become increasingly detached from society before they become detached from education. In an effort to understand the root cause of youth dropout, Margins~ Push Boundaries conducted surveys with 285 technical, vocational, education, and training (TVET) students aged between 15 and 35 at campuses in Roodepoort and Soweto. The study found that students displayed symptoms of marginalization as gauged from socio-economic indicators such as; race (all survey respondents were black youth), socio-economic circumstances (72.5% of survey respondents came from single-parent, child-headed, or homes where they were cared for by a legal guardian, 72.5% of those guardians only completed high school and only 22% of the heads of household had a full-time job, 41% did not sleep in their own room and 38.6% indicated that they did not get enough sleep, 35% had either a minor or severe illness, only 33% ate three meals a day, and 41.5% indicated that they were not eating enough).
Indicators of dysfunction at home were also prevalent with 46.4% of respondents indicating that they did not feel safe at home. 29% indicated that they had been abused and 13.4% admitted to suicidal ideation. Learners indicated that there were a number of difficulties hindering the completion of their studies such as; learning difficulties (19.6%), lack of resources (27.5%), family problems (24.8%), bad living conditions (10%), transport problems (55.6%), insufficient food (14%), threat of unplanned events such as death, illness, or loss of income (35.3%). 33% Indicated that they did not have social support when they encountered a problem and 64.7% indicated that they were uncomfortable discussing their problems with others. 48.7% Indicated that their needs for love and affection were not being met and 23.4% said that they did not feel like a respected or valued member of society. Despite the strong indicators of social marginalization, youth did not attribute any of their challenges to society but shouldered the burden themselves demonstrating high levels of anomie. Youth normalized their circumstances and 67.3% indicated that their daily mood was normal evidencing low levels of self-awareness around their social exclusion."
