Debmarine reaches out and inspires

JUSTISIA SHIPENA
Ester Kamati

Namibia’s leading marine diamond mining company, Debmarine Namibia, has seen the need to educate, motivate, and hence, reach out to young scholars across the country.

They visited two local schools on 4 March with the aim to inform the learners about careers in marine mining, as the various opportunities offered by the company.

These include not only bursaries, but trainee programmes as well. This came after an observation that most bursaries did not reach the targeted audience and that scholars are unaware of the programmes that Debmarine engages in, as mentioned by Meriam Ruben, Debmarine’s communications officer.

When asked how they singled out the schools to be visited, Ruben said that as one of the top-performing schools in Katutura, the Hage Geingob Secondary School was one that they were optimistic about and hope to see good results from potential bursary holders.

Jacob Marengo was selected due to the story of Jelson Quinga, who was part of the top ten best learners nationally in the 2018 NSSCO examination. Ruben, on behalf of Debmarine, mentioned they hope this encourages other learners at the school to aim high and eventually excel.

This is more than enough proof that the programme is inclusive and that Debmarine will not let their potential diamonds (the learners) slip through their fingers. The bursary scheme is based on talent and only those who are deemed to meet the minimum requirements are called in for an interview.

Bursaries are mainly rewarded in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields of study, as those are the areas of focus of the business, and individuals who have been identified as previously disadvantaged are given due consideration.

Homateni Mutumbulwa, a teacher at Hage Geingob, confessed that in the beginning not many learners wanted to attend the outreach programme, but after having heard from their peers about all the advantages that Debmarine brings, they were enthusiastic about the programme. He also shares that he appreciated Debmarine’s interest in engaging the learners and hopes the programme reaches more scholars.

Debmarine is determined to uphold its commitment to especially the education sector in Namibia, and does this through, for example, the Diamond award, which comes with a bursary for the wining student to study at any university nationally or in South Africa. Some of the learners from Hage Geingob Secondary School showed a great interest in the bursary programme and seemed to have more direction with regard to their career options.