It is a Saturday morning, 14th March 2015, and the RLabs Academy is about to start. Everyone is buzzing, coffee in their hands and getting ready to go into their different classes. In the reception area in our radio station there is Tasriq Adams and Genevieve Davids, our presenters on the Saturday breakfast show.
They kick start their interview slot with Silvia, a student in the Mom 8.0 class. Silvia lives in Slivertown, which is one of the areas surrounding Bridgetown. She is an unemployed, stay-at-home mom. Her baby is all grown now and she is ready to get back to the working environment. This was one of the reasons she joined RLabs, she wanted to be ready to look for a job. She heard about RLabs from a friend. During her course she shares with us how she has gained a lot of confidence in herself and created relationships with the other women in her class. She loves that she got to meet people from different backgrounds and share her personal stories with them. She later continues to share with us how she thought it would be strict and she would be expected to write tests. She was giggling at this point sharing with us that they were given different icons to label at home and she was freaking out, thinking they would be quizzed the next Saturday. She says it is sad that their course is coming to an end, but she still has another course starting in April, Job Readiness. These are the words she shared with the listeners, “You never too old to learn, even if you are disabled RLabs still accommodates you”. This woman is all about education and not letting anything put you down or make you feel you can’t. She left the presenters still wanting more of her wisdom.
Up next were 5 team members who came in the radio station buzzing with excitement all around. Most of the members in the group already had small businesses and they just wanted to gain more knowledge to grow their businesses. Some of the group members were still thinking of starting businesses and did not know where to start, and that made the Entrepreneurship class their number one class to be in. They seemed like they knew each other for a long time, despite only meeting a few weeks ago, they found that they were like-minded people who inspired one another and shared the same goal. They told us before they came to RLabs they wanted to start their own business to generate money for themselves, but after being in the Entrepreneurship class for 5 weeks they now think differently, they did not only want to have businesses that serves them, but they wanted businesses that would benefit their communities, create an impact and change their communities in positive ways. Their minds were stretched and they now look at challenges in their communities and are busy trying to find ways to best address those challenges. One member said she feels like her eyes were opened for the first time and she really wants to make a change.
Hearing from our students is where we draw the most inspiration from. The last 5 weeks has been amazing and we know that each and every student has left with something new in their hearts. We wish them all of the best for their new adventures.
