The Rotaract Club of Hout Bay will give its current president another year in the hot seat.
Yamkela Nomnganga, 24, will be inducted during an online ceremony tomorrow, Saturday August 1.
Ms Nomnganga, of Imizamo Yethu, first became involved with the Rotary Club in Hout Bay back in 2015, when she landed a Rotary study bursary.
After matriculating from Wittebome High School in 2013, she studied for a national diploma in analytical chemistry at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology.
She is now doing her Master’s degree in applied sciences.
“It was a privilege for me to have a mentor throughout my undergraduate studies because the support I’ve had through the Rotary Mentorship programme has contributed immensely to who I am now,” she said.
The Rotaract Club of Hout Bay was chartered in 2016 and most of its projects benefit Imizamo Yethu.
Ms Nomnganga started a mentorship programme, under the Rotaract Club banner, for IY’s youth, especially Grade 11s and matrics.
“A lot of students have benefited from this initiative, and I am always so proud of myself and my team when I witness the success of the students we’ve mentored,” she said.
Ms Nomnganga first served as the club’s president last year and has now been voted back in for another term.
“My goal is to ensure that we keep the mentorship programme active through this pandemic. I wish to see all our students conquer the circumstances in which we all find ourselves in.
“We are all affected with the pandemic in different ways, and I worry about the additional challenges our mentees are facing in the interim.”
Since April, the club has supported the mentees with food vouchers.
The mentorship programme has already bagged Ms Nomnganga an award for the club’s work in IY, and its efforts haven’t gone unnoticed by its partner, the Rotary Club of Hout Bay, whose president, Alison Rice, said: “We’re very proud of what the Rotaract Club of Hout Bay has done.”
The Rotary Club of Hout Bay has meanwhile also won awards for its community service projects.
“We’re definitely punching above our weight in Hout Bay in the Rotary world.
“We also have Rotary clubs in two of the high schools, called Interact clubs, and in two primary schools too, called Earlyact,” Ms Rice said.
Ms Nomnganga said she wanted her club to continue supporting students in IY and not just for their academic needs.
“The majority of us are from Imizamo Yethu so we relate so much with our mentees; we understand their background, and we know exactly what they need,” she said.
“I am happy to be part of this organisation and very proud of what we’ve achieved so far as a group. Through Rotaract, I am able to transform people’s lives and that’s something that I live for.”
