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Umthombo Youth – student imbizo, graduate meeting and 10-year celebration
Umthombo Youth Newsletter
Volume 5 | November 2010
As we come to the end of the year, I would love to share about a number of significant events we have coming up, which I am so excited about!
On Friday, 3 December, we are having our student imbizo. All 110 of our students will be coming to spend a day together – this is significant as our students are spread across eight different universities and so we never get the opportunity to get together during the year. As part of the programme we will reflect on how the year has gone (assessing results, discussing how we can improve our results and support), and discuss our plans for next year. Importantly we will also use the time to speak about and discuss life issues such as: making good decisions (consequences of bad choices), planning your life, motivation and relationships. Above all we will enjoy being family together!
On Sunday, 5 December the graduates will be meeting. They have designed their own programme, which will include sessions on living a balanced life and working as a team. This gathering will also be used to reflect on the achievements of the year as well as planning activities for the coming year.
On Saturday, 4 December we will be having a celebration of the achievements of the past 10 years of the scheme. The celebration is being held at Mosvold Hospital since this is where it all started and will honour those who conceived the plan of addressing the shortages of qualified staff by investing in the local youth. All the graduates and their parents, but especially the first graduates, will be honoured for working hard and showing that rural youth can succeed at university and become qualified healthcare professionals. The local community will also be honoured for their support and belief that this was possible. This event will be a reminder that this all started with the support of four students in 1999 and has grown to the support of 110 students this year and the production of 73 graduates! The event will also be used to share the vision of the Umthombo Youth Development Foundation with the local community – the fact that the programme is being spread to other hospitals in order to give more youth opportunities and help address the shortages of qualified staff at participating hospitals. What a wonderful day of reflection and celebration it will be!
We are thankful that despite the world economic crisis that we have been able to raise sufficient financial resources to provide comprehensive financial support to 110 rural youth and establish a number of new initiatives this year. The favour of the Lord has been obvious.
May I also take this opportunity to thank the Umthombo Youth Development Foundation staff, Dumisani, Nontokozo and Cebile, who have worked tirelessly to ensure that the programme runs smoothly and that the students have no worries and can concentrate on their studies. You guys have done a wonderful job this year!
To all our supporters, thank you for your encouraging words and financial support. On that note, I would like to share that I recently received a phone call from a person who phoned for our banking details because they wanted to donate €10 000 to us! When I thanked them, they simply said it was money they did not expect and so they decided to invest it in the future of the youth!
