Young MOTivators’ Education – Youth Leadership Camp

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On 7 – 9 October, MOT SA hosted our 1st Youth Leadership Camp to 23 MOT Youth for High Schools in 3 years, since the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Youth Leadership Camp was sponsored by The Rotary Club of Wynberg, Haugaland Upper Secondary School, Karmøy Rotary Club and Rotary Districts 2250 and 2275, the Rotary Foundation as part of our partnership to roll out our Courage to Care Global Grant project.

About The Courage to Care Global Grant

The Courage to Care Global Grant project launched Tuesday, 20 October at Fairmount High School in Grassy Park on Tuesday 20 October 2020. It was initiated to invest in our future leaders by training educators to empower the youth with leadership and life skills to master their own lives and shape the future they want for themselves. Read more here

MOT aims to develop robust youth to be resilient role models in their communities and make better choices and create a warmer and safer place for all.

High Schools in attendance were Zeekoevlei and Lotus High Schools, located in the Grassy Park / Lotus River area, as well as Mbekweni Youth Centre, an organisation located in Paarl.

Purpose of the Camp

The purpose of the Youth Camp is to strengthen the learners’ leadership abilities, personal strengths and to train them as MOT Youth Peer Educators to present the MOT programme to their peers at school.

Inspiring visitors
Wynberg Rotary President, Stacy Edwards

The Camp was attended by Wynberg Rotary President, Stacy Edwards, as well as MOT SA Board Member, Brian Dalton who is an ex-member of the Wynberg Rotary and a Past President of the club. MOT SA Board Member, Odwa Ndesi joined the Camp, as well to spend some time with the Youth.

Stacy Edwards inspired the Young MOTivators through the story of Wild geese – how they use resilience, effective communication, teamwork, great leadership skills and knowing when to rest and when to lead.

youth team building activity

“Understand your role as a Young MOTivator. Know when to lead and when to be lead. Take the skills you’ll be learning over this weekend with you and use them in your school, community and at home. Remember the quote from Spiderman, ‘with great power comes great responsibility”, said Stacy.

The Youth Camp started off with the Wishlist – in which the youth share what their expectations are for during the camp and what kind of experience they would like. After, the youth went onto the Life Shield session which allows the youth to share themselves – their interests and dreams, which allows the youth to open up and get to know each other.

The Youth also delved into MOT’s History, how it started and the MOTivation behind MOT.

MOT Ambassador – Sharief Hendricks
mot youth with sharief hendricks mot ambassador

On the next day, the Youth was visited by our incredible MOT Ambassador, Sharief Hendricks, who is a Senior Lecturer, Rugby Player, Researcher and Editor. He inspired the youth to pursue a career in science and spoke through the points of Adaptability, Questioning yourself/Critical thinking, Process and Consistency.

“No one wakes up a master. Every master will tell you, it’s the everyday things”. Chop wood, Carry water, which speaks to falling in love with the process of your pursuits, thriving and being committed. This is a saying Sharief lives by and he inspired the youth to do a little bit every day, over time it will all count in order to reach your goals.

MOT Ambassador – Hlonela Minaye Mrwetyana (Hloni)

Another of our inspiring MOT Ambassador in attendance were Hlonela Minaye Mrwetyana (Hloni) who joined us via the Zoom Meeting platform. Hloni’s latest achievements are Preteen Universe SA 2022, being a model at the New York Fashion Week Model for 2022. She won the Youth Humanitarian Award, a TV Host on the Kids Kitchen relay via Honey on DSTV.

Hloni started off teaching the youth her ShikiShiki Dance Challenge, which they gladly participated in!

She then went on to inspire the youth by sharing her story sharing who her role model is, how she balances her school life and career and still ends up getting A’s, sharing her goals and tips on what keeps her motivated.

Click here to view Hloni’s Instagram post

The youth enjoyed a welcome video from our MOT Ambassador, ex-South African cricketer and founder of JP21 Foundation, JP Duminy who couldn’t join us at the camp due to other commitments, but wished the youth well and inspired them to make use of all the opportunities to learn this weekend.

We further enjoyed another surprising welcome video from MOT Founders, Atle and Sigrun Vårvik. Our youth were thrilled to meet the founders of MOT, who have created the MOT Programme to create a warmer, safer and inclusive society filled with courage.

youth team building activity

The day continued with fun and exciting Team building activities, thought-provoking Group discussions and much more!

Thank you!

Thank you to our MOT Ambassadors, Board Members and the Rotary Team for joining us and spending time with the youth, especially for the powerful and inspiring messages shared. To have you present, meant so much to the youth and to our staff.

Thank you to our MOT Coaches and MOT Mentors that attended the Camp and for your support throughout the weekend. It is much appreciated!

Another big thank you to Rotary International for making this Youth Leadership Camp possible in order for us to strengthen the youth to become leaders.

young motivators

Lastly, thank you to our Youth for an incredible, fun, interactive weekend! We enjoyed getting to know each and every one of you and we were glad to have fulfilled your expectations of the weekend from what you’ve shared for the Wishlist! 

Find out more about our MOT Life Skills Leadership Programme for Corporates here

Check out our article here about our recent trip to Burgersdorp where we hosted our MOT Coaches’ Basic Education to 30 educators, volunteers and community workers!

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