Vutivi I Ndzhaka (VIN), a Not-for-Profit organisation formed in 2012 to provide mentoring and coaching support to high school learners, held a successful Career day on 20 April 2019 in collaboration with the leadership of the five schools in the Mafarana, Bonn, Sedan and Mulati Villages. On the same night, a gala dinner and awards ceremony was held to celebrate several achievements.
Career Day Report
The career day was held at Professor Shiluvana Secondary school, at Bonn Village. The school kids were ferried by VIN sponsored transport from their respective schools to the host schools, thanks to the support we received from our sponsors. More than 800 kids from Grade 7 to Grade 12 came from all the neighbouring villages, Mafarana, Bonn, Sedan and Mulati.
The kids had the fortune of being addressed by James ‘Big Jam’ Shikwambana, Big Jam is product of Mulati Village and alumni of Professor Secondary School, He has crafted his career through sheer hardwork, a son of peasants who worked himself from being a sports presenter on a XiTsonga Radio station to now the Regional Manager of Western Cape SABC. He spoke about his journey and how he kept his focus on growth despite the hardships he faced at home. Mr Shikwambana obtained all his tertiary education through self-funded long distance education, demonstrating his will to better his circumstances despite the odds that he faced.
The great day would not have been complete if we didn’t have Miss Courage herself, Matimba Makaringe epitomizes everything Courageous, not only has she created a number of businesses in her youth, she also has allowed herself to be public speaker on issues facing the Girl Child in South Africa. Her topic on Courage struck a cord with many young girls who through circumstances beyond their control have had their courage to dream and aspire to a greater future has been damaged.
We had wonderful subject matter experts, Zackie Sambo a qualified Social Sciences Practitioner was available to guide and inform about his career, and so did Mr Baloyi, The SANDF head of the Musina Battalion. He spent valuable time exposing the wonderful opportunities that are in the army. The young Advocate, Amukelani Baloyi was on standby to assist those who may have been interested in the law profession about options and requirements in the field.
The messages were clear in that all guest speakers had a common message, that irrespective of what your talents or aspirations in life are, the world needs you to stand up and live to it! The world awaits your contribution.
All Vutivi I Ndzhaka volunteers took turns to make themselves available for questions in the many various careers that they are practicing. The success of it all, was that over the years, Vutivi I Ndzhaka has become the vehicle with which young and dynamic professionals from these villages are able to come back and guide school kids on career opportunities that are in demand at the moment.
On this same day, Vutivi I Ndzhaka compiled a mentorship program, wherein we assigned to each student a Vutivi I Ndzhaka mentor, to assist the students with further career choice support and encouragement beyond the career day.
Award Ceremony
A grand 1st class galla dinner was set up at the local Presbyterian Church’s Mafarana Parish, the décor was done by the FloralFairytale a ‘A Grade’ decor and events business owned and run by the Entrepreneur Munyadziwa Rikhotso. VIN thanks the leadership of Reverend Mokeona and Church Secretary Manana O Rikhotso for ensuring we get the use of the venue for free.
A transformed EPCSA of Mafarana, bringing the city back to the village!! The program was anchored by our very own Vukosi Mashele, a young man from the village who has crafted himself a career in acting, Vukosi popularly known as King VeeJay is a TV personality well known for his character in the Drama Series Rhythm City. He brought all the drama and colour that he is well known for and entertained all present beyond our expectations.
There were 100 kids who attended the ceremony on merit, these are the kids that did very well in each of the 5 schools grades, we awarded the top 5 of each class with a entry to the prestigious dinner and another 50 kids who were top performers of 2018 and their respective top performing teachers.
The event was graced by community leaders, especially our respected and loved VaNkuna Royal House. Vutivi I Ndzhaka is forever grateful to be operating in a community that is well led from a traditional leadership point of view, we continue to enjoy the support of VaNkuna Royal Council and we are proud to be active VaNkuna nation.
Parents and senior members of the community members came in their numbers and purchased entry tickets to support and congratulate the class of 2018 and Vutivi I Ndzhaka had put this award ceremony to celebrate the kids in front of their community in order to further encourage the community to support education and allow the junior grade learners to aspire to these honours.
Our key note address was delivered by the young Dr Katekani Khosa, who hails from Bonn Village. Dr Khosa started his career in the army as an officer and made it to the medical school within the army. To have a brilliant young man who did not give up on his medical sciences dream come back home to inspire our learners about the power of persisting through difficult times was amazing. Dr Khosa has become a internationally recognized speaker and his teachings were valuable to both our community members and pupils.
Dr Khosa, being the responsible man that he is, took a moment to offer critical health tips that were in line with the challenges facing villagers, including ways to manage diabetes and appealing to all community members to take serious the basic checks that can assist in early identification of cancers, especially breast, prostate and cervical cancer.
Vutivi I Ndzhaka appreciated his contribution and looks forward to having him in our future events.
Award Recipients
Our Star of 2018 was Tiyani Phakula of Professor Shiluvana Secondary school, he is currently studying Actuarial Sciences at University of Pretoria. He received his Gift courtesy of our Gold Sponsor Dido Communications a IT firm Head Quartered in Edanvale.
Vodacom, South Africa’s Number one Cellular Network provider also came through to Award both the Overall Number 2 and 3, both students were leaders in their respective schools.
We were able to hand out over 20 awards on the day and additional awards were handed over directly to the deserved winners on a special day at Professor Secondary school by Vodacom.
List of Awards
OVERALL BEST LEARNERS
| Phakula Tiyani Shaun | 80 | Professor | Laptop | Dido Communication |
| Shipalana Pretty | 75 | Sedan | Laptop | Vodacom |
| Matlabyane Civilized Nhluvukiso | 68 | Cata | Laptop | Vodacom |
BEST LEARNERS FOR EACH SUBJECT
| Award | Sponsor | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phakula Tiyani Shaun | Mathematics | 90 | Professor | Tablet | Dido Communication |
| Shipalana Pretty | History | 89 | Sedan | Tablet | Dido Communication |
| Matlabyane Civilized Nhluvukiso | History | 80 | Cata | R 500.00 | Vutivi i Ndzhaka |
| Phakula Tiyani Shaun | Life Sciences | 89 | Router | Vodacom | |
| Shipalana Pretty | Life Sciences | 81 | R 500.00 | Vutivi i Ndzhaka | |
| Shipalana Pretty | Xitsonga | 84 | R 1,000.00 | Vutivi i Ndzhaka | |
| Magamana Harry | Xitsonga | 83 | R 500.00 | Vutivi i Ndzhaka | |
| Shikwambana Emelda | Xitsonga | 82 | R 500.00 | Vutivi i Ndzhaka | |
| Matlabyane Civilized Nhluvukiso | Xitsonga | 81 | R 500.00 | Vutivi i Ndzhaka | |
| Penyane Jamele Gilter | Xitsonga | 80 | R 500.00 | Vutivi i Ndzhaka | |
| Phakula Tiyani Shaun | Physical Sciences | 86 | R 1,000.00 | Vutivi i Ndzhaka |
100 PASS RATE EDUCATORS
| Ms Shingange S.J | Accounting | 100 | Cata | R 500.00 | Vutivi i Ndzhaka |
| Ms Mboweni N.M | Xitsonga | 100 | Cata | R 500.00 | Vutivi i Ndzhaka |
| Ms Mboweni E.K | Xitsonga | 100 | Professor | R 500.00 | Vutivi i Ndzhaka |
| Ms Makhubele G.G | English | 100 | Cata | R 500.00 | Vutivi i Ndzhaka |
| Ms Mnisi T.S | Tourism | 100 | Professor | R 500.00 | Vutivi i Ndzhaka |
QUALITY
| Ms Mboweni N.M | Xitsonga | 100 | Cata | R 500.00 | Vutivi i Ndzhaka |
| Mr Mashele M.R | History | 59 | Scotch | Certificate | Vutivi i Ndzhaka |
| Ms Makhubele G.G | English | 55 | Cata | Certificate | Vutivi i Ndzhaka |
| Mr Matlou M.J | Mathematics | 53 | Professor | Certificate | Vutivi i Ndzhaka |
| Ms Mnisi T.S | Tourism | 53 | Professor | Certificate | Vutivi i Ndzhaka |
As Vutivi I Nzhaka, we recognize and honours our teachers and thank them for maintaining a superior attitude when it comes to teaching and parenting our learners. In our villages, teachers are the students primary source of even parental guidance and in many instances a lot is asked of them and little is given as support. Inkomu.
It was indeed a pleasure to note that even in subjects such as Mathematics, we do have a Mr Matlou who continues to churn out great results, along him we recognized our top performing teachers and showed them as stars in front of the entire community.
Our Cheerful Sponsors
The bulk majority of the funds were obtained from VIN membership contributions and our commercial sponsors listed below. Vutivi I Ndzhaka is very grateful and wishes these organisations well in their business endeavors, may God bless you.
| Commercial Sponsor | Amount | Line business |
|---|---|---|
| Nsovo Environmental | R 18,000 | Environmental Consultation business |
| Dido Communication | R 15,000 | Digital Documents and Specialist IT solutions business |
| Vodacom | R 10,000 | Multinational Telecommunication company |
| North Arrow Holdings | R 6,000 | A mining and exploration consultancy and advisory business |
| MEC Nkakareng Rakgoale | R 6,000 | Community leader and now MEC of Social Development Limpopo |
| Ritluka Resources | R 5,000 | A coal mining business in Mpumalanga |
| NYDA | R 5,000 | National Youth Development Agency |
| Orhovelani Tailings Treatment | R 5,000 | Tailings Treatment and Project Development company |
| Hosi Technologies | R 3,000 | Information technology company |
| Dr PT and Prof TV Manyike | R 3,000 | Academic and Business Leader |
| BTC | R 2,500 | Chicken Farming Business in Bonn Village |
| Ntshuri Holdings | R 2,000 | Events Management base in Bonn |
| Kainos Financial Services | R 1,500 | Financial advice business |
| Passion Power | R 1,000 | Motorbike club owned by vaNkuna based in Gauteng |
Life Time Achiever’s Awards
We are where we are due to the foundations laid by our fore bearers in this field of educating the last village child. In our community we are proud to be running Vutivi I Ndzhaka, we know too well that our strength lies in the foundations laid by generation of selfless leaders who worked selflessly to improve the standard of education in our villages.
“He who gives to the poor, lends to the lord, and the lord himself will pay him back”
Proverbs 19:17
In 2019, the VIN Chairman was honoured to bestow such a recognition to Mr L Machimana. Mr Machimana spent more than 3 decades teaching Mathematics at Professor Shiluvana High School, and he also founded a private tutoring initiative based in Professor secondary, where he catered for all other schools, offering free tutoring to those who were willing to attend but may have had no means to pay. He is respected in the community as a great leader and teacher of many of our Vutivi I Ndzhaka leaders.
Mr Machimana wrapped up his professional career as the founding Principal of Sedan Secodanry school where he retired from official duties, but continues to teach and lead in the community.
Mr Machimana joins Mr TR Shikwambana, 2018’s Life Time Archiever’s award winner as honorary members of Vutivi I Ndzhaka. We are looking forward to their wisdom in guiding the activities of Vutivi I Ndzhaka in the future.
Acknowledgements
To all our various stakeholders especially the leadership of the schools, Principal Stevious Mushwana of Cata, Mr Clark Mushwana of Scoth Maboko, , Ms Tekani Shikwambana of Professor Seconday, Mr Winter Mavulwana of Sedan and Mr Mbalati of Jacob Magamana, the learners and VIN donors, the event was not the end of our relationship, but the beginning of another phase in our continuing relationship founded on improving the quality of learning of our children and help uplift each other as a community.
Over and above the sponsors listed above we received a lot of contributions from ordinary citizens from across the country, both monetary contributions and a lot more in discounted services.
Thank you for your contributions thus far.
Kind Regards
Jacques Rikhotso, VIN Chairperson
