Writing their new futures

TEN young pupils have written their way to boosting their future education, effectively demonstrating the requirements for future women leaders in South Africa and the elements essential to developing and acquiring that goal.

Pupils were asked to write an essay entitled, ‘The Unsung Heroes in our Communities’ ahead of the full-day workshop, that were independently adjudicated and prizes were awarded for the top 10 pieces.

Desireé Venter from Mandini Academy and Minenhle Zule and Lerato Tshabalala from Durban Girls’ Secondary scooped the top three places, winning tens of thousands of rands worth of prizes including laptops, bursaries, cell phones, clothing, training sessions and website hosting.

Durban Girls’ Secondary also produced the fourth-placed winner, Nandi Khomo.

Venter aims to study as an animal health technician through Unisa next year, while both Zule and Tshabalala hope to secure financial aid bursaries to study as an educator and within the health sciences arena respectively.

Venter said her unsung hero is her Geography teacher, Lyn Wessels. “She never judges anyone, rather inspiring her charges and those within her environment to achieve their best. She runs soup kitchens for the poor and if she sees anyone in need within her community, she comes to their assistance,” Venter wrote.

Head of the examiners’ team Dellarose Bassa warned the matriculants about their spelling, grammar and punctuation, blaming the issues on SMS texting and sloppiness.

“Putting something into writing offers the world a part of yourself. If you cannot take care how you say something (as important as an essay in this competition), what does that say about yourself?” she said.

However, she also said when people were offered opportunities such as the Winning in the Workplace workshop and the essay writing competition, they needed to treat them with the deserved respect. It was in this context that care should be taken with writing.

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