Heroes come in all shapes and sizes and very often go unnoticed by people, other than the ones whom they have helped or inspired. Recently, Vodacom, SA`s leading cellular network, launched its internal Yebo Heroes programme at Vodaworld, Midrand.
The project aims to provide Vodacom employees the opportunity to assist the Vodacom Foundation in uplifting the community. Featuring at the launch as a guest speaker was one of SA`s newest and bravest heroes, Chaeli Mycroft, who provided motivation and encouragement to all in attendance.
At just 10 years old, Chaeli is cerebral palsied and also has a degenerative neuropathy, affecting the muscles in her arms and legs. Despite all these obstacles with her health, she is a do-it-yourself girl and attends Sweet Valley Primary School in Cape Town. Chaeli is also the youngest ever finalist in the Shoprite Checkers / SABC 2 Woman of the Year Award. She founded the Chaeli Campaign with her sister and three friends in order to create awareness of, and meet the mobility and educational needs of disabled children. Young Chaeli has shown remarkable courage and leadership in spite of her youth and disability. Chaeli has won herself a place in the hearts of many people and together with her team of friends and siblings (aged between six and 13) has raised enough money to provide for the mobility needs of 24 disabled children.
Like Chaeli, Vodacom cares. The new internal Yebo Heroes programme is set to help the Vodacom Foundation manage its projects by using Vodacom employees. Every year the Vodacom Foundation selects a number of projects in which it wishes to participate and enters into agreements with the management of the selected projects. The Vodacom Foundation then recruits volunteers to perform these tasks and roles. The volunteers in each office select a volunteer champion - a person who will play the liaison role between the external project principals and the foundation office. The champion organises the selection of a volunteer committee to assist with duties.
This champion is responsible for organising the volunteers and acts as the official Vodacom Foundation volunteer representative with the external project principal. The volunteers in a particular project may be organised into teams based on the sort of functions they perform, eg education team, health team, safety and security team. All volunteers in a particular project liase with the champion in terms of their duties, tasks and roles with regards to various projects.
Vodacom is currently supporting many education projects, some of which include the Vodacom Schools, the E-Learning and Resource Centres. Vodacom also supports many health projects, eg Cell Life, projects involving safety and security, eg Women and Men against Child Abuse, and to a lesser extent projects in the areas of arts and culture, environmental and sports development.
From a few tenacious children to a corporate giant, making a difference in someone`s life is not about how big you are. It is about how big your heart is. Helen Keller once wrote: "The world is moved not only by the mighty shoves of the heroes, but also by the aggregate of the tiny pushes of each honest worker."
Vodacom and Chaeli are working hard at improving people`s lives everyday. The question that should be asked is what are you doing today to improve somebody else`s life?
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