“I am the future” offers a life line to the young women of Moletjie
3rd year Safety Management student at Vaal University of Technology, Nakedi Sharmaine Manabalala continues in her work to help better develop her community by helping those in need.
LIMPOPO – As the founder of an non profit organisation called Youth of the North Sports Development (YONSD), she seeks to empower young women and encourage them to have goals in life and encourage them to always work hard to achieving their dreams.
YONSD was founded last year with the aim of channeling the youth from disadvantaged communities in Limpopo towards a better life. “I believe we as women need more empowerment projects to help us meet our full potential and also find our purpose and passion,” she explained.
She recently hosted a event on Saturday, 20 April 2019 called a “I am the future”. “This event was a first of its kind in Moletjie, Monyoaneng and was aimed at dealing with the many issues that young women face in life, which include: low self-esteem, unequal opportunities in the work place environment as well as in various institutions of higher learning institutions,” , she says.
The guests speakers at the event offered words of encouragement and motivation to the young women in Moletjie. Each guest speaker spoke about their journey to get where they are today as well as the importance of women empowerment and how women should support one another. The young women were also given advise on how to deal with certain issues and challenges that they face.
“Our guest speakers were young, vibrant and well spoken. They engaged with the young attendees by sharing their success stories with the aim of encouraging the attendees to never give up and seek to see only the positive side of every situation and challenges that they face in life,” added the 20-year-old model.
Guest speakers included young models in the city of Polokwane, including: Sally Sithole Miss Teenager South Africa Finalist, Kgadi Magoro Mrs South Africa Semi-Finalist, Manabalala Nakedi Sharmaine founder of I_am_the_future Foundation and organiser/coordinator of the Women Seminar and Key Note speaker Her Majesty Mmakgosi Mmanare Moloto III.
Each guest speaker brought along a pack of cosmetics to donate to the young women as part of giving back to the community.
