NEMATO CHANGE A LIFE

year by year 2012

for older pics see rowing club 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024

Anything that floats - or not (1 December) What is better in the summer holiday than playing in the river on anything that floats, and even more fun when it is a competition where it doesn't matter how slow you go, and you can still win a prize. Five members enjoyed the “Anything That Floats” competition organised by the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) and Stenden University. Our team on their home built “coxed quad” did a great job in swimming, paddling and going nowhere slowly. They won a nice meal at Spur for the most disastrous boat, fun!

President's Awards (28 September) We offer our members the opportunity to participate in The President's Award. This youth empowerment programme is a great way to encourage our members to take our programme a step further. The participants have to do sport, skills development, community service and an 'adventurous journey'. Five of our members were invited by The President's Award to do their two days bronze level adventurous journey at Assegaai close to Grahamstown. The annual award ceremony took place a week later in the town hall in Grahamstown. Our silver medallists are: Ashley Backward and Bongisani Magopheni. Our bronze medallists are: Buhle Ngcelwane, Lifa Nxopho, Lindokuhle Nikelo, Qhamani Isaac, Sonwabile Mhomho.

President's Award hike (15-16 September) Five members were invited by The President's Award for a hike in Assegaai. It was a two day hike for the bronze award medal.

Three Sisters hike (5 July) For members who really wanted to challenge themselves, we did a hike to the 'Three Sisters', a rock formation on the beach. It is a very long hike of 30km in total, but luckily the weather was friendly with gale force wind on the day before and rain the day after. 18 members participated in the hike.

Youth Day (16 June) June 16, Youth Day, is a very special day for our organisation. In 1976, this day marked the start of the upraising of the township youth against the racist educational system. We won our democracy, but the education is still as bad as in the days of apartheid and offers the youth no future. Nemato Change a Life is in its own way continuing the battle for a better future for our youth. On Youth Day in 4006, Minister of Sport and Recreation, Ref. Stofile, officially opened Nemato Rowing Club. Every year on Youth Day we celebrate our birthday and give awards to all deserving members who work very hard to change their lives for the better.

Rhodes Career Day (14 June) Bennie Isaacs, Head of the Rhodes University Student Recruitment, invited us for a day at Rhodes. He gave us tools how to plan your future in study and career. It was a highly inspirational and practical lesson. It was followed by a guided tour around the Rhodes campus. Thanks a lot to Bennie and Rhodes for giving us this opportunity!

PE branch (18 May) The PE branch of Nemato Change a Life got a boost with the start of our PE rowing club hosted by Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) Rowing Club. It is the first sport we offer in PE and at a small scale with 4 members, but we see great potential for growth in the next years.

Discovery Channel (15 May) After filming the Expedition Africa Extreme Challenge in and around Port Alfred, the Australia film maker stayed behind to film empowerment projects in our area, including Nemato Change a Life, for Discovery Channel.

Assegaai Camp (3-4 April) First term at school is finished, but the sports competitions have not yet started. Time for something special to reward our most committed members: a holiday camp. Unfortunately the sports camps that we wanted to organise didn't work out due to the high costs. With 38 people we went for a short two day camp to Assegaai near Grahamstown. It is a quite place in beautiful Eastern Cape nature with lots of space for kids to run around, play, and be free. The weather was nice and warm. Swimming was fun, in the pool and in the little river. Some did a hike, with a swim, meeting kudus, zebras, giraffes and colourful spiders. Andy Peebles from Rhodes organised us an interesting guided tour at the Albany Museum in Grahamstown about the history of the universe and about dinosaurs living in the Grahamstown and Port Alfred area a long time ago. Ever touched a meteorite and a 250 million year old fossil? We did! A great job was done by our organisers, a group of members between the age of 13 and 15, who organised the entire trip. Well done guys!


Study in PE (February) We are very excited that we got six members into FET studies in Port Elizabeth and Grahamstown. FET stands for Further Education and Training and combines academic learning with skills training. It is three years of study. The minimum entry level is grade 10. The quality and level of education is much higher than at our township schools. On one hand there is massive unemployment in South Africa, but on the other hand there are an estimated 800 000 vacancies due to lack of skilled people. FET studies offer an excellent chance to bridge that gap and get good qualifications and much needed skills.