‘Apart from the snakes, it was great,” Mpho Padi said, looking reflective. At 18 life seems huge. Especially when you’ve just had your first real contact with the bush … and the abject poverty of rural Limpopo.
Padi and nine other students like him aged between 17 and 20 had just returned from a remarkable five- day road trip when I met them. The trip was part of the Youth 4 Tourism (Y4T) initiative, a private-sector-funded development programme run by the Southern Africa Tourism Services Association (Satsa) in close association with the Johannesburg-based Tourism Training Institute (TTI).
The snakes, and other “horrors” such as sun spiders and scorpions, were part of the mix at the small cultural village of Nyani near Hoedspruit, where the group slept on the floor in traditional huts, eating communal meals with their hands and experiencing first-hand how millions of their countrymen live.
“It was sad to see how poor those villagers are,” said Nonhlahla Mkwanazi, known affectionately as Lolly.
“The government really needs to do something to help places like Nyani,” she finished with a wistful sigh.
I remembered the zeal of my teenage years as I listened to the rest of the Y4T crew chip in with their thoughts on the issues of poverty, upliftment and racism, and how we should be leaving the past in the past and getting on with the future.
The ills of society seem so easy to cure when you’re young and your enthusiasm tanks are still full. How quickly we start running on empty.
Y4T guru Dave Atherstone sometimes finds it hard to keep up. As chairperson of the Y4T committee for Satsa’s Gauteng chapter, the initiative is very much his baby. It all began three years ago with the aim of identifying the most promising travel and tourism students in the country and exposing them to the industry in which they hoped to make a career.
“The idea was that we, as Satsa, would give the kids the chance to become tourists in their own country for a few days,” said Atherstone. “In the process, we would be able to spot the potential movers and shakers of a new tourism generation while giving them a glimpse of what the game’s all about.”
The programme received a warm welcome from the industry and monetary support began to roll in, albeit slowly and in relatively small amounts.
Additional funds were raised at Satsa Gauteng chapter meetings, where the who’s who of inbound tourism gathered to network and debate the important issues.
Last year R20 000 in cash was raised via raffles and the hosts of the road trip chipped in with accommodation, meals, transport and sightseeing tours. The result was that this year’s Y4T project, the third of its kind, was the most successful yet, and now Atherstone is trying to push the initiative out to Satsa’s other provincial chapters with the aim of making it a national development programme.
“There’s still a lot to achieve. It’s early days yet,” said Atherstone. “There are a lot of major tourism companies out there.” Some of them with woefully shallow wallets, it would appear.
Like many such projects, Y4T relies solely on funding from the private sector, which accounts for the majority of Satsa’s membership base. But given the number of big players in tourism land, they have been slow to climb on board with funding and help for Atherstone and his Satsa and TTI colleagues.
Usually help comes in the form of annual bursaries to the top achievers in the Y4T project. The TTI provides a R20 000 educational bursary consisting of an 11-month national certificate in general travel.
The TTI is the only college of its kind offering the official South Afri-can tourism qualification. Launched 14 years ago, the college is primarily aimed at those who have been disadvantaged and who historically have no access to the tourism arena.
It is actively involved in community development and in securing funding for students. Last year saw R750 000 raised to fund bursaries.
This year Gold Reef Guides joined the TTI with the addition of a second bursary that would see the winner training to become a specialist tourist guide in Johannesburg and Soweto.
The bursaries were given out at an informal awards ceremony at the Indaba hotel in Fourways, which was the start and end point of the students’ road trip.
Sibusiso Mthembu, a matriculant from Madiba Comprehensive High School in Kagiso, received the Gold Reef Guides bursary and Bianca Olivier, who matriculated from Waterkloof High School in Pretoria, was the recipient of the TTI bursary.
After the ceremony, the students chatted excitedly among themselves, congratulating their lucky colleagues and cementing friendships made on the trip. Still pumped from all they had seen and done in Limpopo and Mpumalanga, they spoke with me about tourism in South Africa and what the future holds.
“We are the future,” said Tumelo Motsamai firmly. “We just need to be given the chance to prove ourselves and show what we are made of.
“We are the clean slate, the fresh start that South Africa needs to go on with things. The past is finished.”
I was silently impressed, but what about the r-word? Tourism in South Africa is considered woefully lily-white. Was this something they picked up on during their trip?
“Not at all.” Almost in unison the group became very animated. They were not afraid of racism, in either word or deed, and seemed vehement that it’s not an issue in their eyes.
“All we’ve seen is black and white people working happily together, being given the same opportunities,” said Yvette Hattingh from Pretoria’s Waterkloof High School.
I silently hoped that their bubble of enthusiasm would not be burst too quickly and moved on to another sticky topic, that of government support for initiatives like Y4T.
Bongiwe Ngwenya, from Davey Secondary School in Daveyton, shared her thoughts almost before I had finished my question.
“There is no support from the government,” she said emphatically. “But we need their help. More things like this [Y4T] should be available to us.”
Moot point. But Atherstone wasn’t so sure. “We never set out to make this a government initiative. The priority has always been to get the private sector to put back into the industry. Goodness knows that more initiatives like this are needed across the board, but I wouldn’t like to see this one hijacked.”
He’s still passionate about his brainchild, like any proud parent would be.
So how does this parent choose his kids?
“An invitation is sent out to selected schools offering travel and tourism as a subject to nominate likely candidates for the project,” explained Atherstone. “Certain criteria have to be met, such as the students being in Grade 12, and their marks for travel and tourism and English are also submitted. We also need to know whether they are doing the subject at standard or higher grade.
“We then ask the students to write a one-page essay on themselves and how they see themselves fitting into the travel industry. Their teachers also add comments. Once we have all of this information we select three learners from each school. Our main concern is to look for students from previously disadvantaged areas who have not been exposed to the tourism industry.”
Atherstone went on to explain that sponsors are then found for the road trip, which is the litmus test for the Y4T team. While on the road, the students are shown how a trip like this is put together, with an emphasis on the educational side, such as learning logistics and team-work. Sightseeing is combined with formal training, individual and group activities.
At the end of the day, choosing the bursary recipients is never easy, with the final choice made on merit and depending largely on the individual’s suitability for the bursary being received.
The sponsors have a vested interest in the outcome, too. Often hotels like the Indaba take in trainees based on the recommendations of Atherstone and his associates.
The Indaba was joined in sponsorship for this year’s road trip by Nyani Cultural Village, the Kapama Cheetah Project, Motswari Private Game Reserve, Mpumalanga Tourism Board, White River Lodge and Honeysuckle Holidays. Most of these sponsors were keen to find out from Y4T whether any of the students would be suitable for training positions with them.
Bursary winner Bianca Olivier was sure the group had a bright future. “We had such a fun, exciting, adventurous and very educational trip and all of us rose to the challenges presented to us. We’ve become good friends and we’re all passionate about tourism.”
Lolly and Bongiwe hugged one another, smiles as wide as the Zambezi. “We’re going to miss each other,” they chirped.
As the room slowly emptied the teen team said its goodbyes. Parents came to fetch them and only Lolly was left, waiting for her ride. I’ve asked them to keep in touch and let me know how they get on in their endeavours. Some will, I am sure, and others won’t. Whatever the case, with young people like this building the foundation for South Africa’s future together, as a team, I am looking forward to a bigger, better and much brighter tomorrow.