Women of inspiration honoured
An awards ceremony was a celebratory event, held to celebrate the "heroines of the city".
DURBAN Book Fair in partnership with The Valley Trust and The Mitchell Park Trust acknowledged the work of 21 women in their communities at an awards ceremony at Mitchell Park on 21 March.
Speaking at the event, emcee Sbongiseni Vilakazi said the awards were a celebratory event, held to celebrate the ‘heroines of the city’, the 21 awardees who were being honoured by the Durban Book Fair for their outstanding work in the city or with the fair itself.
“These women are not celebrities or political heavyweights, they are rather those who have put their heads down and gotten to work and who are dedicated to their work in their different spheres. These women encourage and inspire others to be better versions of themselves, hence the name of the award, The Women of Inspiration Award 2021,” he said.
The presentation of the awards was split up into three sessions, and between these, Dr Sanil Singh from the Mitchell Park Trust spoke about the work of the Trust in the municipal park. He also thanked Anivesh Singh from the Durban Book Fair for being so involved in promotion of the park.
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“The Trust was founded 25 years ago to create awareness of open spaces, in particular Mitchell Park, the Mitchell Park Zoo and Jameson Park. The zoo used to have a myriad of animals and was iconically known for Nelly the Elephant, and more recently other celebrities such as Admiral the tortoise. The Trust likes to work with other organisations, hence the relationship with the Durban Book Fair for the past two years. The fair has been held in the park and has been responsible for the launch of a number of aspiring local authors, and we are happy to support and promote this organisaiton,” he said.
Sbongiseni, who works for The Valley Trust, also gave an overview of the non-profit organisation which was started in 1951 and strives to live up to the powerful heritage of its founders.
“We work mainly in the Valley of 1000 Hills and offer a clinic which is operated by the Department of Health. We have a flagship programme which works with 2000 children from birth to six years old. We train caregivers to provide cognitively for the children at home as well as regarding healthcare for these children. We also teach them how to save in the form of Stokvels. We provide a youth programme with the core being computer skills, and host an adult programme with the main thrust on HIV knowledge and prevention,” he said.
He encouraged the public to donate old or new toys to the childcare initiative. Visit www.thevalleytrust.org.za.
Women of Inspiration Awards 2021 recipients were:
Esther Pookoo
Rowena Govender
Tanya Waterworth
Lorraine Richards
Dr Lucinda Johns
Ivy Cele
Mathabo Kunene
Sarisha Premnarayan
Ashantewaa Ngidi
Anira Pather
Salma Patel
Rachel Vadi
Illa Thompson
Sulosh Pillay
Shakila Maharaj
Shabnam Palesa Mohamed
Sonto Buthelezi
Lauren Walford
ZK Seedat
Pamela Padayachee
Nivashni Nair Sukdhev
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