Voice for Africans

Our hope is that in years to come we will not have a youth group just depending on social welfare. — Charles Oguntade

Greater Shepparton’s youth are encouraged to attend the African Youth Forum on Sunday to share their thoughts and concerns on a range of topics in an open group.

It is the first time a forum such as this has been organised in the Goulburn Valley, with Care Africa working in conjunction with Shepparton Ethnic Council to make it possible.

The forum will cover key topics such as education and training, youth employment, mental health, mentoring and domestic violence. “The forum is something that is born out of necessity,” co-organiser Charles Oguntade said.

Mr Oguntade said many of the key topics related to the African communities and were a way of opening up a discussion. He said there were many youths who were disengaged and unemployed, and the purpose of the forum was to discuss with young people why this was happening and discover some of the obstacles they were facing.

Mr Oguntade said because of this they had looked into the possibility of mentoring young people, and it was something they wanted to put in place. “This is something we’ll use to sustain the gains from the forum,” he said.

Mr Oguntade said all young people and their parents were encouraged to attend the forum. Co-organiser Omeni Ndlovu said the forum was not adopting a “talk-down approach” to young people. Instead it was asking young people and their families what they feared and what issues they were dealing with.

Then we get into that engagement process to say how do we therefore open pathways for the young people to move forward,” he said. “Our hope is that in years to come we will not have a youth group just depending on social welfare.”

The forum is free and will include a complimentary lunch.

It will be conducted at La Trobe University, 210 Fryers St, Shepparton on Sunday from 11 am to 5 pm.

For more information phone 0402 475 918 or 0403 346 298.