Promising example

Queen Elizabeth and Nosipho Bele share a laugh at Buckingham Palace this week. Bele, originally from Verulam, is one of 60 awardees in the Queen's Young Leaders programme. She runs a mentorship programme in Nyanga near Cape Town.

Queen Elizabeth and Nosipho Bele share a laugh at Buckingham Palace this week. Bele, originally from Verulam, is one of 60 awardees in the Queen's Young Leaders programme. She runs a mentorship programme in Nyanga near Cape Town.

Published Jun 26, 2015

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Four days from Friday, South Africa will wrap up Youth Month on a high, thanks to three young people: Nosipho Bele, Emma Dicks and Patrice Madurai.

These young women, who are between the ages of 22 and 25, were the three South Africans who were the award winners of this week’s inaugural Queen’s Young Leaders programme.

In total, 60 recipients were chosen from Commonwealth countries. These were people who worked to support others, raise awareness and inspire change on a variety of issues including education, climate change, gender equality, mental health and disability equality.

Bele is a 25-year-old who was born in KwaMashu, but was raised in an RDP house in Verulam. Her humble beginnings inspired her to want a better life for herself and for others growing up in similar or worse circumstances.

Today, 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.

In her interview with the Daily News, she said: “I want to dispel belief that ‘because of where I come from, I am limited’. That’s wrong. Education is the way out.”

Bele is living proof indeed that one’s circumstances should not be an obstacle in one’s quest to succeed.

It is inspiring and refreshing to realise that there are still young people like Bele, who are prepared to put in the work and excel in their respective fields regardless of their background, instead of sitting back and waiting for the government or someone else to provide for them.

There are plenty more out there like her, who toil day in and day out trying to improve their lives instead of holding on to a sense of entitlement or the false hope that something will come to them with no effort on their part.

If our country can produce more young people with Bele’s attitude, we may one day even conquer the high unemployment battle.

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