SA ‘superwomen’ to guide young girls
Mentorship programme launched
THIRTY-seven of the country’s most influential women have lent their support to Cell C’s Girl Child Institute of Mentorship, taking responsibility to nurture 37 girls so that they become future leaders.
A spokesman for Cell C Take a Girl Child to Work Day, Rolene Strauss, the current Miss South Africa, said the initiative had been successful for 12 years and led to the mentorship programme being launched.
Among the impressive list of “superwomen” is communications mogul and director of the Centre for Executive Renewal Brenda Kali.
On Thursday, Kali was introduced to the teenager she will be mentoring, Martha Tsela, a Grade 12 pupil at Zikhethele Secondary School in Devon, Gauteng.
Kali said she was honoured to be part of the exceptionally visionary initiative to inspire young girls.
“Oliver Tambo said a country, nation and people who don’t take care of children have no future and don’t deserve one,” said Kali.
“The current leadership of the country needs to go back to Tambo’s words and get all government departments to work holistically towards creating a child-centred society.”
She said young people of today were “star children” because of their grip on technology and the ability to see the bigger picture.
She added that it was the responsibility of adults to create a forum where young people could be part of shaping their own futures, instead of being dictated to by adults.
Tsela, 17, a high achiever, plans to study information technology at the Vaal University of Technology.
“Brenda is going to motivate and influence me to become the person I want to be tomorrow,” she said.
The managing executive of the Cell C Foundation, former Miss South Africa Suzette van der Merwe, said the new year-long mentorship programme involved girls from disadvantaged backgrounds.
“This is a great opportunity for the girls. The fact that somebody believes in them means they can walk away with confidence that the world is their oyster,” she said.
The 37 mentors include Jenna Clifford, Melinda Bam, Cindy Nell, Cheryl Carolus, Peggy-Sue Khumalo and Sophie Ndaba.