Lifeskills for 2,587 Children in South Africa

I am so happy to share with you more of our achievements made possible by your support. In Sept 2021, we had an awards ceremony, Nkulu was a recipient of a National Award which is very difficult to achieve.

I know I have introduced Nkulu to you previously, but I thought as a donor you might like continuity with some of the children as they progress through life. She and her sister Khanyisa were our first cubs in KTD196 way back in 2003. Since then she has traveled through scouts into rovers. She has become an extremely passionate and competent Social Worker and Project Manager with KTD196. She has run a series of projects including, but not limited to: the Annual Color Fun Run; the Self Help Group Program; and working with local stakeholders assisting the most disadvantaged children in the province.

Nkululeko ‘Nkulu’ was the first Rover in the Limpopo Scout Region to obtain the BP Award, which is the highest Award in South African Rovering. I spoke to her about the role KTD196 and Scouting have had in her life and how she feels about making Rover history in Limpopo.

‘I come from a small village called Shiluvane in Limpopo. I joined the Scout Movement way back in 2003 as a Cub when my mother Elizabeth Mabuza introduced to it”, explains Nkulu. “My mother was – and still is – part of the Scouts’ family through the partnership with local NGO ‘Keep The Dream 196’. Even though I was a child, I could see how the programme was impacting my life and so I started being fully involved in 2004.

My character was developing gracefully and I realised that I was behaving differently than many other children in my community. It was clear that I was learning a lot of things like leadership skills, self-leadership, communication skills, project management skills, perseverance, and of course pioneering – where I learned more about ropes and knots”, she says with a smile. When Nkulu turned 18yrs she stepped into adult uniform, joined the ‘KDT196’ team and started her own Cub Pack for children aged 7-11yrs, plus spearheaded the growth of Cubbing throughout the Limpopo Scout Region once she graduated from university.

However, every journey has its challenges and Nkulu has encountered – and overcome – some along the way. “One of my biggest challenges was time management,” continues Nkulu. “At some point, I had to juggle academics as a university student and Scouting. I’m also a bit of an overachiever and so I tried to perfect everything that I did, even things that were beyond my control. So that was challenging at times. But I was able to overcome these challenges by looking at the bigger picture and what I wanted to achieve. I learnt that I can do anything I put my mind to.”

Nkulu remained focused on completing the activities required in order for her to achieve her BP Award.

“I was elated when I was handed my BP Award,” she says excitedly. “I felt honoured and appreciated that my hard work and dedication had finally paid off. It also boosted my profile and leadership skills. Rovering is all about service and I am so much passionate about community development and about helping children in rural communities to achieve their dreams with the little resources that they have. Some of the activities that I ran within my community included the colour run, career exhibitions, and a recycling project which was done at one of our schools” she adds.

Nkululeko is currently also the Chair of the National Cub programme in South Africa. “In addition to achieving my BP Award as a Rover, I also plan on continuing to work together with my Cub team to achieve all our goals and fulfil all my duties. Moreover, by completing the Personal Bar and Movement Bar within the Rover Programme I have learnt that values acquired in Scouting stay with you and motivate you to do more in life.

"All of this was made possible through Louise and my mother Elizabeth and their vision to help orphan and vulnerable children in Limpopo by starting Keep The Dream196, and your sponsor! In South Africa, we have a saying "It takes a village to raise a child!" I hope you are happy with your investment in my life. I am like so many others coming up behind me, I just have the privilege of being the first in our province to be awarded this award, but watch this space, more are coming through thanks to you!"

Thank you so much and God Bless you

Nkulu

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