2024 Madrinha Trust Summer Newsletter
From left to right: Trustee Dr Casmir Chanda, Founder Jania Geoghegan, Her Excellency High Commissioner of Zambia Macenja Mazoka, S-J Heany
THANKING ALL OUR MENTORS, CHARITY PARTNERS AND FRIENDS
The sun finally came out, on what has been a very wet Summer so far here in the UK, bringing together a wonderful gathering of mentors and trustees and invited guests at the Madrinha Trust Summer Drinks Party on Thursday 27 July 2024 at the May Fair Hotel, London. Jania Geoghegan welcomed us all and we were delighted that so many mentors were able to attend for the very special Q&A with Her Excellency the High Commissioner of Zambia, Macenje Mazoka, in conversation with Jania and Dr Casmir Chanda, our trustee, also from Zambia.
Everyone was hugely inspired by Her Excellency and we all enjoyed her vision for the future. With special thanks to Sarah Constantine-Haidry, trustee for introducing Madrinha to such an exceptional guest.
We were very fortunate to have KHULA’s CEO, Debbie Heustice with us, and their Chairman Robin Woodhead, regular attendees at our Summer event. This year KHULA has expanded more opportunities through the collaborative Fellowship Programme with Teach the Nation SA and the Madrinha Trust, completing its first two year programme at the end 2024. Currently we have 11 KHULA scholars, 3 are graduating at the end of the year.
We were delighted that Shereen Nather, Operations Manager and Anjum Misbahuddin, trustee and Madrinha mentor from FQMS, our Palestinian partner charity, were able to attend. We also welcomed the CGEF chair, Roxanne St Claire and Trustee Ladi Dariya (formerly Madrinha Trust Manager).
ALUMNI COMMITTEE
One of the new changes recently approved by our Trustees and Education Mentoring and Career team (EMC) is the establishment of our Alumni Committee. After reaching the 102 alumni marker in December 2023, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to ask 6 of our alumni to help shape, run and contribute to the future of the Madrinha Trust.
In 2025, this young proactive committee will start by reviewing the Career Skills Programme in collaboration with Teach the Nation SA and the Fellowship Programme year two fellows. We are looking forward to their innovative contribution and vision as well as their engagement with facilitating and running the workshops.
MICROSOFT SA HIRES NOMFUNDO
Madrinha Trust is delighted with the news that Nomfundo Mfeka was offered a permanent role at Microsoft SA. She is one of only two interns to ever convert and of course we are very proud, alongside her introducing partner charity MAD Leadership Foundation, to have sponsored Nomfundo to such great success.
Nomfundo you are AMAZING, well done!
2024 CAREER SKILLS PROGRAMME (CSP) HIGHLIGHTS …
We can hardly believe that we are coming to the end of our fourth Career Skills Programme on 17July 2024, “Toastmasters” hosted by Rob Moores and Sui Chin, Trustee .
10 Workshops later we were overjoyed with an average of 30 scholars attending each one via Zoom.
Again we were so lucky to have inspirational workshops from Jason Wicks, Recruitment Consultant at Teach the Nation, SA, who very kindly hosted 2 workshops and of course Thendo Makgatho’s finance workshop and special thank you to the team at Microsoft SA, Priya Naidoo, EMEA University Recruiter, Keitu Rapabi, and Nomfundo Mfeka (alumni).
This year we welcomed Ray Lawal and Mu Kupara a two-hander around Time Management. We also thank Thobeka Nxumalo (KHULA) for the Wellbeing workshops and of course Gianni Dibiase, trustee for the Protect Your Identity workshop.
Good to see 2 scholars running their own workshop this year Nomsa and Prescilla from MAD Leadership Foundation sharing the “Adapting to Life - Hello World” workshop.
One of the highlights was the “Jobs, Side Hustles and Entrepreneurs” workshop, run by Jason Wicks and Vanessa Kyte, trustee, with 4 of our very own Madrinha Alumni entrepreneurs presenting their own story to the attendees. Thank you to Danei, Sakhile, Ivan and Clemensia for their contribution.
A big thank you to Vanessa Kyte, trustee and Ellie Patsalos, trustee for the energy they bring to the programme each year and S-J Heany who along with Vanessa co-curated the programme in 2021.
We are looking forward to the 2025 CSP run by our newly appointed Alumni Committee and Teach the Nation (SA) second year fellows with a big steer from Jason Wicks, Vanessa and S-J.
2024 MADRINHA TRUST SCHOLAR MENTEE AWARDS
Friday 03 May 2024 via Zoom
Each year we run the Madrinha Trust Scholar Mentee Awards to highlight individual scholars’ exceptional achievements and to give confidence and support for their upcoming interviews. A Madrinha Trust award is an accolade they can highlight and be proud of. With special thanks to Mark Laverty (mentor) and Will Dear (Trustee) for helping to select the top students this year.
This year Jania Geoghegan asked that Madrinha include a Special Recognition of Heroism Award which were awarded to all the FQMS Medics and Students in Gaza, Palestine.
You can see a full list of winners here.
2024 CURRENT SCHOLAR MENTEE by Country
Our current cohort :
22 South Africa
03 Ghana
03 Kenya
03 Malawi
05 Tanzania
05 Uganda
01 Nepal
05 Vietnam
10 Palestine / 4 in Gaza
This brings the current sponsorship total to 57.
We will add a further 4 new scholars from our exciting new partner charity EDP Trust (Ghana) in Autumn 2024 for take up in 2025.
SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS
We are especially excited that our students are embracing LinkedIn, WhatsApp and Zoom as their tools for future success. With more and more interviewers and first interviewees using these platforms we are proud to be giving our students the right skillsets to enable them to do well.
We recently invited people to share their Instagram stories on Madrinha’s Instagram which we are sharing live on our website Instagram: @madrinha_trust.
WELCOMING NEW MENTORS
Thank you to our new mentors who have started their mentoring journey with Madrinha this year. We loved that so many of you enjoyed meeting us at the Summer Party and we look forward to seeing you again on Monday 2 December 2024 at the May Fair Hotel.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank Amrit Singh, trustee and her team at the May Fair hotel for hosting such wonderful parties.
REMEMBERING CAROLINE POCOCK, Trustee
I met Caroline over twenty years ago when she was a highly respected corporate event organiser. After we had worked together on a few successful charity fundraisers I discussed with her my ideas for what would become The Madrinha Trust and asked if she would come on board as a founding trustee.
From day one until the end of her life she was a fully engaged and very much loved member of the Madrinha family. She organised all our events, recruited two highly skilled trustees and introduced many excellent mentors.
I can honestly say that she played a huge role in the success of Madrinha, with her boundless energy and enthusiasm. As I said in my address at the summer party, Caroline loved life, she loved travel and she loved people. She lived a good life and she will be sorely missed, not only by her own family but all of the Madrinha family, who brought her so much joy.
May she rest in peace.
Jania
Remembering Caroline Pocock, founder Trustee
May 1947 – June 2024
FINALLY..
Finally, as we look forward to our Summer holidays we also look forward to hearing from you on our WhatsApp Groups and staying in touch.
Thank you all for the support you give to your Madrinha Scholars and of course to the Madrinha Trust.
Finally we hope for peace around the world especially for our poor students and doctors in Gaza, Palestine.
All the very best
Jania and the Madrinha Team