The Lovelife train, better known as the loveTrain, is coming to Makana again next week, following its last visit to Grahamstown in January this year. This time the train will be in Alicedale from Monday 24 to 28 October.
The loveTrain is a mobile youth centre funded by the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund (NLDTF), that seeks to address the drivers of high risk sexual behaviour such as coercion, peer pressure, pessimism, lack of access to education, and lack of self-worth amongst young people in the hard-to-reach areas of South Africa.
The programme targets young people between the ages of 12 and 19 from local schools, and 18 to 25 years olds from the community, who are then linked to career-related opportunities like bursaries, apprenticeships and jobs.
The Lovelife train, better known as the loveTrain, is coming to Makana again next week, following its last visit to Grahamstown in January this year. This time the train will be in Alicedale from Monday 24 to 28 October.
The loveTrain is a mobile youth centre funded by the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund (NLDTF), that seeks to address the drivers of high risk sexual behaviour such as coercion, peer pressure, pessimism, lack of access to education, and lack of self-worth amongst young people in the hard-to-reach areas of South Africa.
The programme targets young people between the ages of 12 and 19 from local schools, and 18 to 25 years olds from the community, who are then linked to career-related opportunities like bursaries, apprenticeships and jobs.
Members of the community who are keen to learn some skills can also get some basic computer training in the Cyber Y programme. Other programmes that take place in the loveTrain include: Community Dialogue, in which parents and youth meet together to discuss issues that affect both generations in the community, as well as a programme called Make My Move and Loving Life, which has been developed to motivate and inspire young people.
Every Friday is a Service Delivery Day in the loveTrain, and this is a programme where other stakeholders such as government departments, youth agencies and corporates come to showcase basic socio-economic services that they are offering.
The Department of Health are also on hand to offer HIV counselling and testing services.
All programmes start from 9am until 4.30pm from Monday to Thursday and 10am until 3.30pm on Friday.
Schools are encouraged to make use of this opportunity and send their learners to the train.
