Economic Growth United Kingdom Project #8321

The Global Innovation and Education Fund

by Action Change (Formerly GVI Trust)

Project Report | Sep 19, 2017
Phumeza's story

By Tilda Christensson | Cape Town Programs Manager

We were able to give a local woman from our Women’s Empowerment Program the opportunity to come and join us on our National scholarship programme (NSP) as an intern for three months. During these past months, Phumeza has been getting hands-on experience and gaining skills in English, leadership and teaching whilst still finding time to make a difference in her own community.

Locals who are underprivileged, passionate and committed to their community and GVI’s mission are encouraged to apply to the National Scholarship Program (NSP). Gordon’s Bay were lucky to have found Phumeza, with a dream to become a Social Worker, a committed and compassionate young woman who was thriving the local Women’s Empowerment Program. Phumeza went to every group meeting for a few months and showed great initiative to encourage other women to do the same. Even when she had completed all her courses, Phumeza still returned to simply assist the staff in facilitating computer classes.

"When I first met Phumeza, she did not know how to turn on the computer and was very shy around our volunteers. A couple of months later she compiled a speech on word, made a PowerPoint presentation and further practiced her presentation skills enough to have the confidence to present an introduction to the Women’s Empowerment Program to 20 American Faculty Members and 40 locals. After this presentation, it was clear that she had the capability and determination to achieve change in the local community, all she needed was encouragement. " -Tilda

This is only the beginning of a very exciting future for Phumeza as she now knows that she wants to become a teacher and has applied for university!

Thank you for all the continued support!

With Gratitude,

The GVI Trust

Attachments:

Phumeza.docx (DOCX)

2 Attachments

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Jun 29, 2017
Meet Benjamin from Mexico!

By Kate Robey | The GVI Trust, Operations Manager

Meet Benjamin!

Dear Supporters,

Today we'd like to share Benjamin's story with you.

This is part of the personal statement that Benjamin sent the team in Mexico as part of his application to become a National Scholar:

"My name is Benjamín, recently I have finished my studies in Biology and now I am very interested in obtaining experience in marine ecology. I would like to participate in this project because I am interested in getting practice in scuba diving skills.This is a great opportunity to improve my English conversation skills too."

He has now finished his placement at our Pez Maya Marine Research Base in Mexico and this is what he has to say about his experience.

Did the National Scholarship Programme offer you opportunities for personal and career development? Please explain.

For sure, being a scholar in Pez Maya has helped me in many ways, like improving my English skills and self-confidence to communicate in this language with many people of different countries. I got 2 dive certificates and more than 50 dives, so I can say that I really received the best introduction to the dive world at Pez Maya. This is really useful for me as a biologist because I received training in monitoring techniques and marine biology lectures.

How has this opportunity shaped your career or improved your future prospects?

I improved my English skills and this will be really useful in my postgraduate studies in the UK! Also, the dive certificates and the experience with the monitoring techniques will be very helpful to get a job. I could even continue with my certificates in order to get a dive master and work in the dive industry. I have so many options.

What are your future career plans?

The next thing is to study a postgraduate in the faculty of Bioscience at the University of Nottingham for 1 year. Then I will come back to Mexico and look for a job or project in which I could work in the sustainable development of the state of Quintana Roo. Of course I would love to come back someday to Pez Maya, Punta Allen and collaborate with my friends at GVI.

Thank you for your support so that we can help people like Benjamin empower themselves!

With Gratitude,
GVI Mexico and The GVI Trust

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Apr 10, 2017
Faith's Story

By Kate Robey | The GVI Trust, Operations Manager

Welcome back to Karongwe, Faith!

Dear Supporters,

Today I'd like to introduce you to Faith, a 25-year old Nature Conservation graduate from the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in South Africa.

After graduating in 2015 and working at the Safari and Lion Park for 6 months, Faith found GVI with a little help from her partner! She found out about the National Scholarship Programme, applied and a few months later got a call from Richard, the GVI Karongwe Base Manager, who offered Faith a spot on the 3-month Wildlife and Conservation Internship. Faith gladly accepted!

"I fell in love with the place and the people the first day I got here and I was looking forward to the experience. I enjoyed doing everything, but community work caught my eye the most. I enjoy making people smile and my passion for giving back was enlightened. This is when I asked Richard ,Leah and Kutulo, GVI Karongwe's staff, if we could have a girls development project – where we will be talking about the changes we go through as ladies and hopefully make an impact in their lives and give them something to go out there and be beautiful, passionate and amazing ladies.

I also implemented that we donate sanitary pads to the girls once a month, because I’ve noticed that in most rural communities it is not everyone that can afford to buy themselves a pack of pads. I asked the other volunteers to help get the project running and everyone donated some money to buy the first bunch of sanitary pads. With the help of my mentor Leah (Assistant Base Manager), I drafted a letter asking for donations from local businesses in Hoedspruit so we can have the project running, and we got temporary sponsors from Labamba, a supermarket which the base usually buys from, as well as the butcher next to the shop. They donations helped us a lot and we had enough for the whole of 2016. In 2017 the project is still running and the volunteers have been helping with donations since the beginning of the year!"

Faith left GVI in September 2016 and was employed at Cango Wildlife Ranch in December 2016 as an Animal Handler. In early 2017, Faith called Leah to find out how the community project was progressing and during that conversation she was told that there was a position open for a Community Liason. Faith asked for more information, applied for the post, had an interview over Skype and started her new position on 2 April 2017!

Thank you for your generous support!

With Gratitude,
The GVI Trust

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