20 Jul 2017

Soft-spoken, cool, calm and collected!

These are the qualities that Kanye-born Goabaone Banyaditse portrays.

But let the qualities deceive you not, because as soon as the petite young woman begins to speak about her passion for volunteerism, everyone is bound to listen.

Ms Banyaditse has recently been selected to take part in the Moremi Initiative Leadership and Empowerment programme (MI LEAD) after being recognised for her remarkable impact and being an influential role model and positive agent of change in her community.

Although she had previously applied three times with no success, her determination in making a positive change in people’s lives saw her make the cut this year.

During an interview with BOPA recently, Ms Banyaditse revealed that MI LEAD fellowships programme is an initiative committed to the long-term leadership development and promotion of Africa’s most promising young women leaders.

Being the only Motswana chosen to represent the country with 26 other participants from other African countries, the 25-year-old could not be more proud.

This year, the participants will converge in Ghana, where the fellows will undergo a three-week intensive training programme at the University of Ghana.

The institute will serve as a platform for fellows to cross-examine concepts of leadership in a broad African context, cultivate skills and experiences necessary to occupy and excel in leadership positions, and gain knowledge on cutting-edge issues critical to African women and their communities.

Ms Banyaditse is the founder of Masedi a Botswana Association, a non-governmental organisation that fosters the spirit of volunteerism as a strategy to promote national development.

Established in 2012 together with 10 other founding members, Banyaditse saw it fit to establish the organisation and through it they offered their volunteering services to those in need.

Her passion for volunteerism however, was birthed as far back as 2010 after completing Form V.

While still awaiting her results, she would visit Baylor Clinic at Princess Marina Hospital, where she interacted with HIV-positive children to encourage them to always look forward to their medical check-ups.

She would later form a teen club at the clinic, where members would meet every month and empower one another on issues affecting them as teenagers living with HIV.

Moreover, Ms Banyaditse also provided tutoring lessons at the clinic as a way of imparting her skills to children at the clinic.

She noted that volunteering not only helps those that are being helped, but also the volunteers as they can benefit greatly from the act.

She explains that she was able to score an internship opportunity at De Beers Global Sight-holder Sales after sharing her volunteer experiences and with lady-luck on her side; the Head of Human Resource for De Beers was present.

She approached her asking for a training opportunity in her organisation that would allow her to make a positive impact in the lives of people and was afforded the chance.

Presently, Ms Banyaditse serves as a Sales Intern at De Beers Global Sight-holder Sales, where she also coordinates the company’s staff volunteering initiative known as Collaborating for a Cause.

Through this programme, she has organised for the donation of napkins to six hospitals with neonatal intensive care units across Botswana to relief the economic burden on mothers nursing pre-term babies.

Additionally, the initiative has supported under served students at a local government school with donations of school uniform and basic toiletries.

Her personal track record as a volunteer with several social impact organisations continues to inform her efforts to mobilise relevant resources to support marginalised communities and people.

As a volunteer, Ms Banyaditse has served as a peer mentor, camp counsellor, care giver and road safety educator.

Her self-care practices include spending quality time watching movies and dancing with her siblings, travelling and engaging in social networking to learn new things.

“Volunteering makes one exposed to a lot of opportunities that one wouldn’t have got if they didn’t volunteer,” she highlighted.

Volunteering also boosted her confidence as she is now able to stand in front of crowds and address them, something she said she was not able to do before.

She encouraged her peers to take up volunteering as it would help them network and create relations with different people from different professions as that could benefit them in the long run. BOPA