Growing up in a township, many young girls face the challenge of having no mentor to help shape their lives.
A young Tembisa woman took drastic steps towards bringing this predicament to an end.
Lerato Ramothata decided to establish an annual event where a girl child can partner with a mentor to guide them through a career and life in general.
The Mother and Daughter Doekswagg event was established and is set to be an annual treat for the women.
Her event was held in October at the Destiny Exclusive Hotel and she hailed it a success. She is looking forward to hosting more networking events.
“We will raise more funds to bring more mentors who can adopt and guide young girls through their career paths and give them life skills in general,” said Ms Ramothata.
She said the aim is to help youngsters to identify mentors from their different fields of choice.
The young event organiser said she is also a Sunday school teacher and often inquires what the children want to do when they grow up.
“They Google search their options but that is not helpful. That is why we decided on a face-to-face mentorship programme where the girls can have a direct conversation with someone who is in the profession they aspire to pursue,” said Ms Ramothata.
She said teenagers have self confidence issues in general and hence the programme was open to everyone.
Patrons came in pairs, constituting a mother and a daughter.
According to Ms Ramothata, it was not strictly biological mother and daughter participants as some patrons adopted a girl child who they are willing to mentor.
She said for their first event they took the occasion to Bredell in Kempton Park.
“We wanted to show the girls that there is more to their usual surroundings. We have bigger activities in the pipeline for the youth,” she said.
Ms Ramothata said it took her three months to organise the previous event but she is already planning a similar event for fathers and sons.
Thando Mbangi (13) said she enjoyed the event and found herself a mentor from whom she expects to receive life lessons and guidance through her dream of becoming a pilot.
Ms Ramothata thanked the sponsors and everyone who made their first Mother and Daughter Doekswagg event possible.