I attended the Youth Toastmasters Graduation for Girls, which is part of the BEAR Foundation, on Saturday in Soweto. The BEAR Foundation runs this programme and is a non-profit organisation who supports and mentors young women across South Africa.
There were over 30 girls who graduated from this fantastic course and the change in these young women were phenomenal. There were various speakers such as Dumi Jere, an extremely successful businessman and CA who has companies in South Africa and Dubai, Minister of Change in Education – Buyisiwe Mabuya, Toastmaster Speaker and Businesswoman – Kefilwe Morobane, and I was honoured to speak to the girls about young women empowerment and how Hirsch’s empowers young girls and gives them the power and strength to do whatever they set their minds to.
The girls spoke about Freedom and Twenty Years of Democracy and gave exceptional speeches which were well delivered and would make any parent proud. It is at events like these that you realize how these programmes make such a difference in the lives of young women and how they grew from timid, shy girls, to proud young women.