A Hout Bay organisation has opened the lines for its free 2025 mentorship programme and is calling on students to apply.

Thatha Ithuba is a mentoring foundation that has helped hundreds of students from Imizamo Yethu and Hout Bay.

Heading up the community projects development and fund-raising portfolios at the organisation is Yamkela Nomnganga, 28, who is also the former president of the Rotaract Club of Hout Bay and created her own hair-accessory brand, Lotus Hairya, which came about during lockdown.

“Thatha Ithuba is a community of compassionate young individuals who believe in the power of people to shape the world positively. We focus on mentorship as a means to develop young individuals and communities, and invest in the future of young people from unprivileged backgrounds in South Africa,” Ms Nomnganga said.

Thatha Ithuba, through scholarships and training camps, supports young mentors as they “guide and empower young people to reach their full potential and make a difference in their community”, said Ms Nomnganga.

Thatha Ithuba was founded as an association back in 2016 by Martin and Gina Hilzinger, donors from Germany, and has been a non-profit foundation since 2019.

Ms Nomnganga later took over and has since helped many students on their way.

One of them is financial accountant, Eli Mabunda, of Hout Bay, who registered for the programme in 2017.

“The organisation really helped me to excel in my studies as well as helping me to discover my future career. This really helped me make the correct decisions for my career,” he said.

“I really needed the guidance and to have these mentors to turn to was really an amazing lifeline.”

Through the guidance of the mentors and the programme, Mr Mabunda completed his studies, obtaining a BCom in finance and accounting.

“I think this step was important for me because you find many youngsters out there studying things, and then when they start these careers, they discover it’s not their passion or what they wanted to do,” he said. “Having this guidance helped me make the right decisions.”

Thatha Ithuba mentorship co-ordinator Deborah Mkhaphuza said applicants were carefully selected for the two-year mentorship programme.

“We look at recruiting kids who are from any school around the Imizamo Yethu area, but we are really looking for kids who show great leadership abilities,” she said.

Applicants have to answer a questionnaire before being selected for a formal interview.

“We look at good leaders to take on because as they start their two-year programme, we already start identifying who will be the ones to help out with the next batch of mentees,” Ms Mkhaphuza said.

Anesipho Benani, of Imizamo Yethu, showed those qualities when she joined the programme in 2019 and today acts as a mentor for the programme.

“When I matriculated, I was being rejected by universities because my marks were not meeting the requirements, and that is when I wanted to change my career. I also did not want the gap year and I wanted to study right away and that is why I needed this programme,” said Ms Benani, who is now doing her third year in nursing at UWC.

Her mentors advised her that she needed to rewrite her matric exams in order to improve her marks to qualify for university.

“I went back, rewrote and my results were better, which then led to my acceptance at the University of the Western Cape, and I also received more offers from other institutions,” she said.

• To find out more or to apply for the programme, contact the mentorship co-ordinator, Deborah Mkhaphuza, on WhatApp at 062 197 1145. The cut-off date for application is Saturday November 16.

Former president of the Rotaract Club of Hout Bay, Yamkela Nomnganga, 28, now heads up the community projects development and fund-raising portfolios at Thatha Ithuba.

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