A Durban-based non- profit organisation that helps communities to deal with various issues on a daily basis, will celebrate Youth Day with township youngsters from Inanda and Pinetown.
The boot camps taking place on June 16 in both townships, intends to reach out to pupils in five high schools in Inanda and unemployed youth in Pinetown.
Ma’at Institute situated in UKZN School of Applied Human Sciences within the College of Humanities, has a multidisciplinary team of workers who assist in providing therapy, rehabilitation and counselling services to the society.
The organisation's project co-ordinator, Zamansele Nqayi, said the youth day project was one of the outreach programmes they did in KwaZulu Natal aimed at reviving their liveliness.
“Our research findings indicate that the youth in Inanda and Pinetown are suffering from drug abuse, unplanned pregnancy and mental health issues because of the effect of unemployment. The programme aims to guide and revive their liveliness so they can fight depression and anxiety. We will team up with KZN institutions such as the departments of education, social development and health which are going to assist with all the information needed by the youngsters,” said Nqayi.
The organisation’s employees include psychologists, social workers and community and policy development and media specialists.
Ma’at refers to the ancient Egyptian concept of truth, balance, order, harmony, law, morality and justice.
The organisation provides free African-centred psychosocial support services as a means of bridging the gap between Eurocentric and Afrocentric methods of individual and group counselling and therapy.
Its services include teletherapy, trauma debriefing, psycho-education, community dialogues, grief and bereavement counselling, awareness campaigns, group counselling and capacity building.
"We urge the youth to come in numbers so they experience a flow of information that will enable them to engage with each other, and the organisations that are teaming up with us and also get to understand distressing issues they go through every day,“ added the project co-ordinator.
Another programme currently held by Ma’at is Men’s Health Month Awareness which is happening throughout the month of June.
The organisation focuses on mental health programmes that will provide a safe space for men to vent out their problems.