Helping Others Help Themselves

Meriting Youth Development is one of those NGO's making a real difference in the lives of people who want to better themselves but often lack the opportunities.
     That's actually not a bad description of what Rotary tries to do worldwide and certainly something that the Rotary Club of Johannesburg New Dawn should, and does, strive for.
     Meriting says many South African children leave school too early and then become unemployed and eventually unemployable.

Zipho Ngxongo, programme manager at Meriting

     This often leads to children turning to a life of crime and obviously becomes a drain on society as it negatively impacts the economy on a whole lot of different levels.
     Meriting offers free skills development to unemployed young people between the ages of 18-29, explained the dynamic Zipho Ngxongo, programme manager at Meriting, at the meeting last week.
     So enthusiastic is Zipho about what she's doing that she arrived at the Parkview Golf Club long before any of the member did.

Zipho addressing the club members, who were all waiting patiently for what turned out to be very refreshing fruit juice from Debbie Smiths' new line

     Zipho told how she had dreamt of a corporate job after graduation, but soon realised that she would find more fulfilment helping others along the path she had just taken, and ended up at Meriting.
     She said there are five courses a year, each one accommodating 50 people. Half of these do a course in project management and the other half in business administration. Each course last 40 days, or eight weeks.

     There are usually more than 500 applications for the 50 places in each course.
     Zipho said the pupils are taught how to behave in the workplace, how to engage with basic business finance through maths literacy and how to do presentations, amongst other useful skills.
     About 40 percent of the pupils end up in full employment, a figure they hope to grow considerably in the future.
     A further 15 percent of the pupils use the course as a springboard to further their studies.
     Pupils have to apply for a position on the courses and those shortlisted write a qualifying test.
     Their funds come mainly from Imsimbi Training, who themselves offer management, communication and leadership development training amongst other fields.
     Zipho says Meriting is always short of computers, laptops and the like for pupils and learnership/internship opportunities for the pupils to gain work experience. The students often need sponsorship for transport. Meriting also provides a social worker who can talk to pupils one-on-one on Fridays, which is an added cost.

Carl Chemaly with Carol Stier at Winex last month

A Full Programme
  There are only three meetings left in the year and a very busy programme besides. Carl Chemaly, or the Sheriff of Parkview as Paul likes to call him, will be the speaker this week. Carl, who is very involved in the goings on in Parkview, will be talking on (his) community involvement.
     The speaker next week will be another club member, Professor Llewellyn Leonard, who recently moved to Unisa from the University of Johannesburg.
     The final meeting of the year, on 5 December and sandwiched between the Golf Day on 30 November and the end-of-year Christmas dinner on 7 December, will be an AGM for helping Paul Kasango choose a new board  for his year from July 2019 to June 2020. Rotary stipulates that club officers (president, treasurer and secretary) be in place by 31 December.
     The rest of the meeting will be fellowship and finalising arrangements for the dinner.
     Also diarise the first board meeting in 2019 on Friday 11th January. The first club meeting will be on Wednesday, 16 January.
     And finally, the raffle ticket sellers had a field day on Saturday, collecting a further more than R3500. That means we already have more than R10000 in the kitty.
     The Quiz Night on Friday, organised by the Rotary Club of Johannesburg and including the Rosebank club and New Dawn, also turned out to be a great success, according to Graham Donet.

The New Dawn table of champions are Carol and Nic Stier, Rob and Samantha Deverneuil, Antoine Papayaa, Shaine Ndambe, Graham Donet and Paul Kasango. Joan Donet took the photo

     The winning team was the Stone Family Table (Rob Stone is a member of the Johannesburg club).

     The Rotary Club of Johannesburg came second and New Dawn third, with only one point separating the winning teams.

     Raffle prizes, a wine auction of wines brought by Rotarians, the quiz and the dinner made for an evening of fun and fellowship, says Graham.

     Maybe next year we'll win!

     A Thought for the Week: Happiness is like a kiss. You must share it to enjoy it. - Bernard Metzer (1916 - 1998)