Artist advises youth on unemployment
Lesedi Mkhutshwa | Sunday September 4, 2022 06:00
She said hard work and perseverance pay therefore urged unemployed graduates to stop whining about the unemployment crisis but rather use their God-given talents to make money.
Furthermore, she said: "Nowadays education is free on the internet, one can also choose to enroll in different online short courses and learn some skills through YouTube so that you can put food on the table". The 29-year-old Bobonong native, Onyana Tekanyo has used her creativity to curb unemployment and build a better future for herself and her younger sister.
Having lost her mother at the age of 17 years, Tekanyo was forced by the circumstances to take her artistry seriously so that she could build a better future for herself and sister.
Now 29, the talented fine artist told this publication that she always took her God-given talent for granted. "I always knew that I'm talented from a tender age but I always took my skills for granted not knowing that one day it will butter my bread," she said. She said after the passing on of her mother when she was doing Form 4, she started to sharpen her skills for the livelihood of her immediate family. Tekanyo, together with her younger sister, were raised by a single parent. They always stood against every storm in their lives.
“The devastating loss of my mother made me feel hopeless with very difficult emotions ranging from profound sadness, emptiness and despair to shock. But despite all this, I had to be strong for my younger sister. Even though our relatives took care of us, I felt a great need to take my education and art seriously,” she explained.
Tekanyo did well in her Botswana General Certificate of Secondary Education (BGCSE) and was able to get government sponsorship and proceeded to the Limkokwing University of creative Technology to study for an Associate Degree in Fine Arts.
During her tenure at Limko she also invested her time in her side hustle by making portraits and selling them so that she could send money back home to her little sister. She stated that she took a deliberate decision to specialise in portraits drawing using graphite pencils as it was in demand than other art elements like paintings. After she graduated from LUCT, Tekanyo said struggled to get a job, but that did not stop her from fulfilling the promise she made to look after her sister when they laid their mother to rest. “I took the role of being a mother to my sister, thus going back home after completing my studies was not an option. I then took a job as a shop assistant at one of the Chinese shops.
At that point I saved a portion of my salary and part-time hustles,” she said. To deal with the distress of unemployment and pressure to fend for her sister, she then tried to apply for an Art teaching position at one of the private schools and but they informed her that she was not qualified and advised her to get a certificate in education.
Tekanyo said she never looked back and enrolled at GUC as a part-time student pursuing teaching. She said upon completing her certificate in education, she also got sponsorship for progression to stud for a Bachelor's Degree in Professional Design. Tekanyo is currently a temporary teacher in one of the government secondary schools.