Durban
The size of your dreams must always exceed your current capacity to achieve them.
If your dreams do not scare you, they are not big enough.
This is the philosophy by which Nosipho Bele – selected as one of 60 awardees in the Queen’s Young Leaders programme – has lived her life, taking her from humble beginnings in KwaMashu to Buckingham Palace.
“That quote comes from Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the president of Liberia and one of my heroes.
“I grew up in an RDP house in Waterloo near Verulam and now I’m working on my master’s degree in education,” said Bele, 25, speaking to the Daily News from Cambridge University in England.
“To see a black woman as president keeps me going.”
Bele is one of three South Africans – including Emma Dicks, 25, and former Durbanite and St Henry’s Marist College head girl Patrice Madurai, 22 – who were honoured.
All three now live in Cape Town.
Bele said the awardees, since being notified of their success earlier this year, had taken part in a series of online learning courses, led by the university, which has included sessions about leadership and communication.
“It’s been an overwhelming experience. I feel so privileged to be here. It’s a lot to take in,” she said.
One of the highlights was receiving the accolade from the queen.
“She was so humble and polite. She congratulated me and told me to keep up the good work.”
This year’s award winners were aged between 18 and 29 and working to support others, raise awareness and inspire change on a variety of different issues including education, climate change, gender equality, mental health and disability equality.
Bele runs a mentorship programme called Mentor Me to Success in Nyanga near Cape Town in which Grade 12 pupils are partnered with university students.
“I want young people to see that anyone, from any background, any race, can achieve success and get a professional degree and career. I did it,” she said.
“I want to dispel the belief that: ‘Because of where I come from, I am limited.’ That’s wrong. Education is the way out.”
Bele, who is working towards her master’s degree in educational leadership through correspondence courses via Concordia University in Canada, hopes to grow the project and bring it back to KwaZulu-Natal.
“I’m hoping the kids being mentored now will pay it forward in the future.”