#LockdownHeroes: North Coast youth making a difference in their communities

In honour of the recently celebrated Youth Day, The North Coast Courier got in touch with some aspiring youth from local communities to find out how they were making a difference in the world.

Our lockdown heroes certainly proved that anyone could be the change they want to see in the world, and that all it takes is one simple step.

First off, we have Christian Maidman:

With a passion for news and interesting people, 22 year old former Crawford College pupil Christian Maidman highlights interesting people from all walks of life.

If the story is one worth being told, you can expect Christian to share it.

Through his Facebook page, Words Words Speak, Christian sits down and interviews both high and low profile South Africans in a podcast-like style.

One such person being Brett Archibald who survived adrift at sea for two days.

Next up, we have Mbali Khumalo, who has a bold vision for business:

Mbali (25) is a young chef with vision from KwaDukuza town.

Her story started when she was diagnosed with keratoconus, a disorder of the eye which results in progressive thinning of the cornea.

This condition may result in blurry vision, double vision, nearsightedness, astigmatism, and light sensitivity.

The underlying mechanism involves changes of the cornea to a cone shape.

The condition became evident when she was in grade two and by the time she was in grade eight, her condition had severely deteriorated.

She qualified for an operation to correct one of her eyes but for the other she is still waiting.

Her struggles with her eyesight led to a lot of time at home between operations, which led to her experimenting in the kitchen to stave off boredom.

Today she is the owner of Taste KZN, an African cuisine, pop-up cafe and catering business for which she won the Ilembe Chamber of Commerce Business Entrepreneur 2019 competition.

Khumalo runs the #WomanInProgress campaign which offers sanitary towels, lunch and cosmetics, as well as mentorship to young girls in KwaDukuza.

She also won the iGagasi FM Shero awards early this year. Shero awards put a spotlight on women in KZN who are doing remarkable things against all odds.

With a passion for preserving the world for future generations, we have Jessie Yuill:

At age 22, the former Ashton College Ballito pupil is on her way to completing a masters in biodiversity and ecology.

She is also working on a project involving seagrass – a nature-based solution to climate change – which could see environments preserved for future generations.

Jessie hopes through her research to see seagrass meadows restored, which would greatly contribute to fighting carbon pollution.

Regarded as one of the most successful young entrepreneurs, we have Welile Gumede:

The 29-year-old Welile Gumede, from Maphumulo is the founder of Azowel Projects and winner of third place in the 2018 Ilembe Chamber Entrepreneur Competition.

Gumede took the initiative to restore a number of neglected greenhouse tunnels in the Ilembe region with the aim of selling the vegetables she grows to Enterprise Ilembe’s school nutrition programme.

She is now regarded as one of the successful Entrepreneurs in the Ilembe region and that resulted her in winning the SMME UKZN Champions Project last year.

Protecting the most fragile during the Covid-19 pandemic, we have Kim Julius:

At age 22, the former Ashton College Ballito pupil is on her way to completing a masters in biodiversity and ecology.

She is also working on a project involving seagrass – a nature-based solution to climate change – which could see environments preserved for future generations.

Jessie hopes through her research to see seagrass meadows restored, which would greatly contribute to fighting carbon pollution.

And last but not least, we have social activist, Dr Nompumelelo “Lelo” Nkosi:

The dedicated Mandeni medical doctor, model, emcee and social activist is well known for her winning personality, work-ethic and energetic, positive spirit.

She is currently Miss Ethekwini and the founder of GirlzNetwork, a social responsibility programme aimed at grooming young girls, encouraging them to become the change they want to see with the ultimate aim of decreasing teenage pregnancy and tackling social issues.

Leave us a comment on our Facebook page and let us know what you think of each of our lockdown heroes.

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