Thekiso adds colour to the dusty streets of Nata
Thalefang Charles | Wednesday October 7, 2015 15:01
The young artist-turned-teacher decided to add colour to the children’s lives through art and entrepreneurship.
“I was uninspired with a dying soul at my teaching job,” he said somewhat cryptically. “I wanted freedom and also to assist these kids by growing their talent.”
Thekiso is a founder of Scibok Studio in Nata with his employees being the village’s school dropouts to try and bring out their talent through art. Scibok Studio does many art related works including logo designs, T-Shirt printing, photography, crafts, paintings, murals, banners, car branding, digital printing and labels.
He has also made a small arena where young patrons come and play video games. The video games arena is so popular that during school holidays, many children in Nata gather there to kill the boredom. He was quick to reassure that his video games arena was not tempting pupils to resort to loafing on their schoolwork, saying he deeply cared about children and their schoolwork.
“I do not open the play station all night. I have to make sure that these kids attend school. Children need recreation, and most of these kids cannot afford play stations, so I assist with that. I know when to switch off and tell them to go home,” he said.
Thekiso has hired three of his former students to use their skills to earn a living.
“I have passion for working with kids, but not in a classroom setup. There is more talent in Nata and I would like to cultivate it and help these boys be big in whatever they dream to be,” he said.Thekiso has plans to open a music studio in Nata where he would produce music for local artists. Scibok fashion is the envisioned fashion division of his enterprises.
One of his employees, Bright Macheke, said Scibok Studo has assisted him to do something with his life because there were few opportunities in Nata.