On 02. October 2023, 97 Tshepanang Members converged at St. Joseph’s Retreat Center in Lomanyaneng/ Mahikeng to participate in the traditional annual Five-day Training Workshop of their group. Never before so many members attended. There should have been even 100 participants but three of the peer educators fell ill. The reason for the massive increase in attendance was the contract with the Independent Development Trust (IDT), that Tsibogang Christian Action Group had signed last year. In this contract IDT commits itself to pay a monthly stipend to our members if our organization manages to provide 164 useful work opportunities. That’s how it came about that we recruited 52 new peer educators last year who are involved in teaching activities in 26 schools since then.
The intention of the Tshepanang committee was to use the annual workshop to mold one strong team out of the old and the new peer educators that should be capacitated to face a new challenge together.
This new challenge is the increasing rate of substance abuse among the youth in South Africa.