The Department of Human Resources Management in the Faculty of Management Sciences at the Durban University of Technology (DUT) recently embarked on a community engagement programme where they provided skills development workshops to residents of Payless Shelter, a homeless shelter in South Beach, Durban.
The programme was coordinated by DUT lecturer in the Human Resource department, Mrs Humairaa Mohammed ran a series of workshops with the aim of helping some of the residents at the shelter who have recently found work with the assistance of the shelter, and others who are actively looking for employment to teach them how to maintain a job, behave in the work environment, labour laws and how to manage money as some of them have never had jobs before. The topics discussed in the workshop for each day from Monday to Thursday were Basic Labour Law, Basic Financial Management, Values in the Workplace and Work Preparedness respectively.
Mohammed said the HR department was looking for a community engagement initiative and then she came across an advert for a payless shelter online and decided to contact them to see if they could help them in any way possible.
“When we met with them and spoke about the things that they do, they told us that they have residents that they assist to find jobs but when they do join the workforce and get their first salary they have no skills on managing their money or how to even be employees in a company. They said they need the skills to manage their money and learn how to be employees. We then decided that as an HR department we can offer them the knowledge they need,” said Mohammed.
She said their goal is to get homeless people off the streets and help get them out of the extreme poverty that they are living in.
“We want them to maintain their jobs, save their money so that they can rent a place to live in, pay for their basic necessities and get out of the life at the shelter. Many of the residents have grown up on the streets and have struggled their whole lives. We want to help them end those struggles by working and becoming members of society,” said Mohammed.
Senior Lecturer at the HR Department, Dr Sifiso Myeni said he volunteered to assist in the programme as it relates with his background since he grew up in the township of KwaMashu and has the understanding of the social pressures the township offers and of being susceptible to street life and drugs.
“There is a handful of people I grew up with that are on the streets with various reasons and being involved in the programme is about giving back to the community the little that one can,” he said.
On what he hopes to achieve with his contribution in the programme, Myeni said the programme sought to ensure the people at payless shelter who have been part of their rehabilitation programme are given the tools and techniques to be active contributors to the economy through this work readiness programme.
“We are expecting them to be responsible citizens who will also impact others positively through their own experiences,” said Myeni.
Mohammed added that they are working on getting participants certificates of attendance to put on their CVs and that they plan to keep the project up with the shelter every year as they continuously help residents get jobs every year.
The participants in the programme and homeless residents at the Payless Shelter, Maralize Visser (46) and Nickolas Matsvairo (41) from Zimbabwe said they are grateful to DUT for the opportunity, and they hope to use the lessons learned from the programme to change their lives.
Pictured: Residents of Payless Shelter during the workshop hosted by DUT’s Department of Human Resources Management.
Thulasizwe Nkomo
