A word of thanks to the Mr South Africa Team

At the end of two exciting months, I would like to express my gratitude towards the Mr South Africa Team.  Thank you for selecting me as one of the Semi Finalists for Mr South Africa 2011.  During these two months I had the opportunity to learn more about myself and I also had the chance to give back to charity and working towards certain goals. 

I would also like to give a special word of thanks to the following individuals / organizations who assisted and supported me throughout this competition:

1. Perfect People Solutions and my employer for your sponsor for my first fundraiser in Potchefstroom;
2. L & J Motors for your contribution towards my fundraiser in Potchefstroom;
3. Dekadent Restaurant in Potchefstroom, for a stunning evening and for hosting my fundraiser;
4. Stef and Ronel, you sang beautifully during the fundraiser;
5. Steel Fixing Zone, and all individuals who made donations towards the Chrysalis Foundation;
6. Die Stoep Restaurant in Lephalale for hosting my second fundraising event;
7. Amelia Smith Projects for assisting me in organizing a fun filled evening - the Silent Auction, in Lephalale;
8. Everyone who voted for me and used a lot of airtime in order to sms;
9. RSG, Mogol Post, George Herald and Potchefstroom Herald for the media coverage and exposure;
10. My family and friends who supported me during these two months;
11. The Mr South Africa Team for keeping me up to date and assisting me with the technology (Pieter, by this time you know that technology is not my strong point, but I learnt a lot);
12. The Chrysalis Foundation, for giving me the platform to contribute to charity;
13. And, finally, thank you God, for supporting me and giving me the strength to compete these two months and thank you for selecting me as a Semi Finalist for Mr South Africa 2011.

The lessons I learnt throughout these two months, are hard to express in words.  I realized again how important the art of affirming goals is and that you should set idealistic, yet realistic goals.  Through affirming this, and through prayer, you will achieve your goals.

I also learnt that by giving, we create an awareness, not only for the relevant charity or organization, but we learn more about ourselves and we learn more about the people around us.  As mentioned in one of my postings, everyone is "scented" and we make a difference in each others lives, even if we only smile to a stranger.

Once again, it is difficult to express my emotions and feelings and lessons learnt.  I am just so priviledged to have been selected as a Semi Finalist for Mr South Africa 2011, therefore, once again to the organisers and judges for selecting me.

All the best to all fellow competitors!

2nd Fundraiser for Chrysalis - Silent Auction, Lephalale

On Saturday, 20 November 2010, I held my second fundraising event for the Chrysalis Foundation.  This time the event was held in the form of a Silent Auction, in Lephalale.

My guests had an excellent time and relaxed in the casual atmosphere of "Die Stoep" restaurant.  I introduced the Chrysalis Foundation, whereafter I explained the procedures for the evening.  Every guest was given a number in the form of a ticket, which they kept secret.  Every guest had to bring a valuable item, which was displayed with a bidding schedule where the bidder had to write their number and the relevant bid.  The bidding closed at 20:00 when the new owners of the items were announced.

Interesting items were up for auction, ranging from a bicycle to Duncan Taylor whiskey.  Needless to say, last mentioned items received the highest bids.

This was an exciting evening and the guests enjoyed the uniqueness of the theme.

Thank you to everyone who contributed to an amazing evening.

RSG Radio Interview

Thank you to RSG for granting me time on one of your programmes to do a telephonic interview.

The interview will take place on 24 November 2010, between 09:00 and 10:00.

I will keep you posted.

Hunger for labour

This week I had to recruit almost 100 employees seeing that the project is under acceleration at Medupi.  It was sad to see to what extremes people will go just to find a job.

The complexity of the projects makes it difficult to recruit, seeing that numerous processes should be followed.  We took on a few trainees to do their practical, seeing that they completed their theoretical part of their course.

Once on site, these employees should do induction for site specifics, eg heights.  This one lady didn't pass the induction seeing that she is 8 months pregnant.  Therefore I had to break the news to her, that it is dangerous to work on height and labour legislation state that she is not allowed one month prior to giving birth.  She was devastated.  She started crying and saying that she deperately need this job in order to support her family and she hid the fact that she's pregnant, because she knew that it would be difficult to get a job being pregnant.

This broke my heart and I realised how fortunate I am for having a  job, daily food to eat, a house to live in, clothes to wear and the basics of life.

We should count our blessings every day and thank God for every He gives us.

At the other side of the desk

During the interview session at the Sandton Convention Centre, I experienced what it's like at the other end of the desk.  Being in Human Resources for four years, it is always an experience going for an interview when I'm so used to doing the interviews.

The interview went well and my nerves was actually stable.  I always find it easier talking to people who I don't know, then friends and family.

This competition made me realised what I have to offer and the passion and have for my country and my people.  I've always wanted to become a diplomat, and this competition will give me the opportunity to do so.  I've also realised that we all are diplomats of our country, even if we don't have an official title or work for the Department of Foreign Affairs.  We represent our country through our attitude and behaviour towards our fellow South Africans and mutual respect is of utmost importance.

Thank you to the Mr South Africa team for your excellent arrangements and for taking the time to meet each one of the Semi Finalists.

Make a difference

Hosting my first fundraiser truly opened my eyes and made me realize how fortunate and blessed I am.  Since entering the competition, I've learned so much about myself.

Often one gets carried away in a web of daily routine activities and it is so easy to lose focus and drift away from our goals and objectives.  Therefore it is important to affirm your goals constantly.

Public speaking has always been my forte and I love entertaining, communicating, motivating and working with people.

My fundraiser (the cocktail evening) was held at Dekadent in Potchefstroom which was the ideal setting for the event.  My guests were greeted with a well prepared cocktail whereafter I introduced the Chrysalis Foundation and talked about the Mr South Africa competition.

I was fortunate that the food and beverages were sponsored by L & J Motors and the venue by Perfect People Solutions, therefore all revenue generated from ticket sales will go to the Chrysalis Foundation.

The guests were also entertained by two wonderful artists, Ronell and Stef who performed brilliantly.

I realised the value of giving and motivating. 

Conclusively, every individual has the same basic needs and emotions.  Everyone just react differently to similar situations.  It is our choice how we react to situations and we can control this behaviour.

Wherever we go, we leave a "scent" of our presence.  Therefore we should strive to release an essence of positivity, objectivity, love, compassion, passion for life and devotion.  This "scent" should be the difference we make in other people's lives.

Thank you to everyone who contributed to this remarkable event.  I an looking forward to the Lephalale Fundraiser.

3...2...1... Action

What an experience shooting the video for the YouTube Project?!  For those who doesn't know me, I'm allergic to technology.  Whenever I hear things like Blackberry BBM, 3G, even fax to mail, I start hyperventilting.  Okay, it's probably not that bad, but close.

I asked one of my friends to shoot the video for this project and he did an awesome job.  It took a few shots though, because of an overweight fly who recently discovered hair gel.

Thank you Jeremy for your assistance with this project.