Our Volunteer Programme
Eleanor Nel
Eleanor Nel is the Founder of the #Don’t You Die Inside (DYDI) Foundation where she shares a compassionate message for the bereaved who have lost their loved ones by death. During the early morning hours of 12 July 2014, Eleanor sadly lost her eldest son in a car accident. This experience gave her a profound empathy for people who have to make peace with the immense difficulty of premature death, contributing to the #DYDI Foundation.
Today, her focus and passion involve providing a platform with coping strategies and tools to help people with awareness and insight into the grief journey to manage their grief going forward. Her vast mentoring and professional development experience of senior undergraduate and postgraduate students at two separate academic institutions over the past 13 years, provides her with a unique skill set to lead the foundation in a manner that supports and directs the mission of the foundation as established by the Board of Directors.
Seithati Ramonaheng
Seithati Ramonaheng is an MPhil (Africa Studies) student at the University of the Free State (UFS). She holds an Honours degree in Africa Studies and a Bachelor's degree in Governance and Political Transformation. She is a former Chairperson of the Postgraduate Student Council (PGSC) and a former member of the Student Representative Council (SRC 2018/2019) at the UFS.
During her term in the PGSC, the postgraduate students had their first Postgraduate Academic Conference where Masters’ and Doctoral students presented their research papers. Seithati is a Student Assistant dealing with Student administration and Immigration at the UFS International Affairs Office, and she is an ambassador for Momentum Health. She is passionate about research, serving and bringing about change. In future, Seithati wants to enter Diplomacy and assist her country and Africa’s economic state.
Kamogelo Dithebe
Kamogelo Dithebe is a young woman who is passionate about life, living as well as developing others. She holds a Bachelor of Science, as well as a Bachelor of Science Honours degree in Botany (Plant Sciences) and is currently pursuing her postgraduate qualification in Disaster Management. As a student, her leadership experience included being Chairperson of the Postgraduate Student Council (2015/2016) as well as being a member of the Student Representative Council (2015/2016). In both structures, her role was to advocate for the needs of postgraduate students at the University of the Free State. Her career experience includes working for the UFS Postgraduate School in Marketing and Communications (2017-2019).
She is currently employed within the Department of Student Affairs as Student Governance Coordinator, while at the UFS. Her primary role is to educate and prepare student leaders at the UFS (SRC as well as Student Associations and Organisations) with the requisite skills to run their governance structures smoothly. As someone who enjoys working with young people, she sees herself as a developing practitioner for student affairs. She hopes to make use of her experience and academic background to effectively capacitate student leaders and youth across the globe, ultimately creating a conducive platform for them to become global ambassadors.
Marcha Vries
Marcha Vries is a student-teacher and team building facilitator, also known as Tiffy. She is driven by creativity and is passionate about her faith and her calling as a teacher. Her strengths are creative writing, facilitating team building, and improving reading skills. She believes in accountability and being her authentic self. She has a playful spirit, is noble and believes that learning is a life-long quest. One of her favourite quotes comes from "The Man in the Arena" by Theodore Roosevelt: “Like the great man himself, I believe in "striving valiantly" and "daring greatly".
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"But as for you, be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded." - 2 Cronicles 15:7
Rothwill Turner
Rothwill Turner, also known as Rocco, completed his matric in 2017. He then pursued a Fitness Instructor course at ETA College in Bloemfontein. His main subjects were Kinesiology, Anatomy, Nutrition and Physiology. Rocco furthermore assisted with the coordination to facilitate a development group called Power Tools for Living, for adolescents. In this programme, adolescents were given the opportunity, to experientially discover key mental health constructs essential to emotional health, while conducting assigned tasks with horses. Participants have been given a special opportunity to practice the essential life skills of respect, responsibility, relationship skills, empathy, boundaries, choices, and consequences in a non-threatening environment.
Until now, Rocco’s biggest experience has been interacting with people from different backgrounds. He participated in several developmental opportunities such as workshops on teambuilding and communication skills, personal development – understanding team dynamics and key communication skills and workshops on leadership and innovation, focusing on nurturing creativity, critical thinking and inspirational leadership.
Adriaan Bezuidenhoudt
Adriaan is a Trainee Accountant serving in his second year of SAICA articles. He holds a Bachelors and Honours degree in Accountancy. He is a former SAICA Academic Trainee serving at the University of the Free State in the subject area of taxation. During his year of academic articles Adriaan was extensively involved in assisting students to achieve their full academic potential through academic inventions and mentorship.
He is passionate about mentorship and shaping the future professional and chartered accountants of the future. He is an aspiring chartered accountant with a strong work ethic, a commitment to competence and strong ethical values. He is excited about what the future holds in store and will grab onto the opportunities that will allow him to help in shaping a better future.
