This year The Reading Seed accepted Lungile Maseko as our recipient of the Further Studies Project. She has commenced a course in Fashion Design at Uberglam and is really enjoying the hands on approach to learning.
Lungile pictured with a bag she made. |
Lungile comes from a history of neglect and abuse. She was brought up in a tin shack of 8 brothers and sisters, Lungile’s mother and father were rarely around, leaving Lungile to look after her younger siblings. She has had this responsibility as well as getting herself to school – which rarely happened.
Her early, important years of education were little if not there at all and therefore critical basic foundational skills were missed.
Since then her brothers and sisters ended up in the care of Milly Jarvis and The Village of Joy, where she attended school daily. This experience has not been so positive for Lungile as she has struggled from day one. She is well behind the standard for her age. Her self esteem is low, she has been riduculed for her ability and now no school wants to accept her. She failed nearly every grade she attended without extra support from the school.
Some of the designs Lungile had drawn |
Working her house mother, Milly, the best option was to pull her out of study all together and put her into a practical situation. She has always been very creative and is great with her hands. She is now really enjoying her studies and can actually apply her skills to gain employment later on.
We are proud to have Lungile involved in this project and will be sharing her progress with you all the more she does.
A creatitive Lungile changes her hairstyle nearly every week! |