Amidst the scourge of unemployment in our country, Seleleko Shabala has landed her first job thanks to the four-month computer skills training course she attended at the Engen Community Computer Training Centre in Wentworth, South Durban. Over the past decade, Engen’s free computer skills training school has transformed many lives in South Durban.

To date 1 982 students have gained knowledge and confidence to go out and seek jobs that would otherwise never have been possible. Seluleko graduated at the end of 2018 and started her new job this year as a learner agent at Meadowsweet Combined School in the Okhahlamba, Bergville area in KwaZulu-Natal. Seluleka says that the Engen sponsored course helped her in her job, as she has to type up and submit monthly reports.

“I also do a lot of admin work for the principal because the school does not have a clerk. The Engen computer course gave me the skills and confidence I needed to take on this challenge and I am so grateful for this opportunity.” The Engen Computer School offers South Durban residents introductory-level computer skills training, which cover eight units of the National Certificate: Information Technology: End User Computing qualification.

To enrol, applicants must be unemployed school-leavers and reside in South Durban. While matric and age criteria are not prescribed, most students who attend the school are aged from 20 to 40. According to Sheryl Casalis, training director of Added Advantage Academy who have provided the training since 2009, three four-month courses are offered per annum, each accommodating 80 people per course.

Engen invests approximately R15 000 per student to attend the course. “The second intake for 2019 are already hard at work and of the 78 learners enrolled, 50 students are between the age of 18 and 30. We are really grateful to Engen for investing in the youth of our country,” says Casalis. Engen’s Corporate Social Investment Manager, Adhila Hamdulay says the Engen Computer Centre is well known in South Durban and usually has a waiting list of people wanting to upskill and empower themselves.

Hamdulay says Engen is both proud and humbled to play a small role in changing lives in South Durban, where the Engen Refinery is located.

“With poverty and unemployment rife in South Africa, Engen is cognisant of the fact that the government cannot be relied on to provide solutions alone,” adds Hamdulay. “As such, we are committed to stepping up and doing the right thing, starting with paying special attention to the people in the communities in which we operate.”