‘Losing my mother inspired me to mentor youth’

National Women’s Day, celebrated annually on 9 August, commemorates the 1956 march of approximately 20,000 women to the Union Buildings in Pretoria. In a four-part series, the Northglen News’s Danica Hansen chats to women who are making a difference in their communities. This week, we chat to Dr Eshia Govender who is passionate about youth mentorship and playing it forward. 

“As a young person, I lost my mom traumatically. When I lost her, it felt like my world was crumbling and I couldn’t find enough adult advice or help. I found that it was beneficial for me to build myself and foster leadership skills in myself. This came from learning to think differently. I took everything I learnt and put it into a programme and that’s the programme we teach at schools,” she said.

Govender, a Glenhills resident said her NPO, Each One Reach 1.org began in 2012 and became a Public Beneficiary Organisation in 2013. Govender, who lost her mother at the age of 20, focuses on mentoring youth.Through school-orientated programmes, Govender reaches out to children and teenagers.

“We teach young children about emotional intelligence and how to manage their emotions. With teenagers, we started the Built from the Inside Out programme which helped young people discover their potential. We taught them that no matter what their circumstances are, they can build resilience to move past it,” she said.

The mentorship includes educating teenagers about Gender-Based Violence as well as offering sports mentorship as an alternative to substance abuse.

Also read: Life lessons I learnt as a teacher

“I think that as women we are built stronger, emotionally. Therefore we cope better. Some men lack ’emotional mannerisms’ due to the absence of male role-models. The generational cycle of absent fathers will continue until we view each other as humans (outside of social categorisations),” she said.

The foundation of the organisation lies on values installed in Govender by her mother.

“Each One Reach 1.org as a concept was something I grew up with, the idea of paying it forward and being part of a community. The principles my mom taught me were always giving back, sharing, having compassion and never judging people. These concepts I grew up with became a lifestyle and it’s something I wanted to teach my children. The best way to do that was through an organisation,” she said.

Govender also hopes to train others to give back in their communities and foster a spirit of volunteerism.

Also read: Durban North baby home addresses abandonment

“If people aren’t trained as volunteers, they find themselves getting overwhelmed. If they are given training and mentorship, they are in a better suited position to give back, as a way of life. Then you can take it where you are located and give back. You don’t have to be part of our organisation to give back,” she said.

When the Covid-19 pandemic broke out in South Africa, Govender extended her work to include a soup kitchen initiative and a pamper pack drive to. Through this initiative Govender trained volunteers to start their own feeding schemes.

“They have started their own initiatives in their homes, where they make meals and then hand them out to beggars at traffic lights in their area,”she said.

Govender left her job at UKZN to invest time into raising her daughters.

“I also chose to use this time to pay-it-forward by emotionally adopting children into our world. Love changes everything. It didn’t take much. All the work that we do is unfunded and thus not as sustainable as we would like it to be. We volunteer and run all campaigns through raising sponsorships or kind through increasing awareness and a commitment to sow from our business,” she said.

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At the time of going to press, the contents of this feature mirrored South Africa’s lockdown regulations.

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