Cooking and baking lessons are offering new opportunities to Wolwerivier’s youth.
The project is the brainchild of Wolwerivier community leader Magdalene Minnaar, who has been helped by Milnerton Lions Club president Christiana Groenewoud and Projects4People. Projects4People is a programme run by some members of the Lions Club.
Ms Minnaar runs the Little Wolves Development and Feeding Scheme in Wolwerivier. She started the baking academy by offering lessons from her home, as a trial run, during the June school holidays to keep the youth off the streets.
Ms Groenewoud said 20 teenagers had been taught basic baking skills at the time and were able to earn some money by baking for local families.
Ms Minnaar said the project had grown and was now teaching children as young as 6 how to cook and bake. She said more than 200 children had done the course, at a cost of R20 or R50 depending on what needed to be baked or cooked. Ms Minnaar said the money was used to buy ingredients but children who couldn’t pay were not turned away.
Ms Minnaar is appealing for donations of baking and cooking equipment, as well as ingredients.
Projects4People spokeswoman Melisa Metz said they were trying to get funding to help the unemployed youth of Wolwerivier. On Wednesday November 29, she presented their Vision 2023 Youth Empowerment Training Programme to an International Lions Forum, asking for funding.
Ms Metz said the training would focus on tradesmen, hospitality and agricultural skills as well as basic life skills, such as budgeting and running a household, but they would need to raise about R500 000 in the first year alone to launch the project.
Ms Groenewoud said if all went well, they planned to start the project at the beginning of next year.
Interested donors can email info@milnertonlions.org.za or call 083 261 1775.
