New dawn for City

The City of Windhoek is investing in youth development, and one such visible programme is the junior council.
Yanna Smith
Newly inaugurated City of Windhoek junior mayor, Reschelle Beukes, who is a grade 11 pupil at Windhoek High School, was sworn in last week to assist the council with youth activities.

The core projects during her term in office will focus on mental health among the city's youth.

Born and raised in Windhoek, Beukes comes from a single-parent home with one younger sister.

“I love reading and adding value to the lives of my peers. With a humble and grateful heart, I try to appreciate the small things in life,” she said. The 16-year-old has a passion to serve her school, her city and her country as a whole.

“I am open-minded about anything that could improve the welfare of our nation, and most importantly, the youth,” said Beukes.

The newly elected mayor is also a finalist in the Miss Windhoek High School (WHS) beauty pageant.

“I consider this title highly as a way to represent my school. Secondly, I was inspired by the head girl and also Miss WHS of 2015, when I was only in grade 8.

I was particularly inspired by the way she carried herself with such poise and class and her respect for others and for herself was clearly evident in the way she handled herself and spoke to the people around her,” she said.

“To me, it is all about the learning experience and inspiring other young girls to make the most of each opportunity and to dream big.” Beukes believes in the analogy of life being like a bicycle and this has helped her juggle her different responsibilities.

“To keep your balance, you must keep moving. Therefore, I value the quality of life and try to keep a happy balance between my academic, sport and my social life,” she explained.

“I am quite active and participate in netball by playing for my school's under-17 first team. Netball has really brought out the competitive side of me and inspires me every day to believe in myself.”

The junior council of 2018/19 will focus on projects that will improve the lives of children and youth in our society, according to Beukes. “Our core project will be a mental health project, targeting young people suffering from (a lack of) psychological wellbeing.”

When the opportunity presented itself to become part of the junior council, Beukes grasped it, as “this was another platform to grow, develop and use my leadership skills to represent my school and to be an instrument in God's hand”.

She would like to use her platform to inspire and encourage girls not to allow their gender to be an obstacle in reaching their goals.

“I would like to collaborate with a project titled Shine Girls, with the aim of encouraging girls to reach their full potential and make them realise that their contribution is valuable to the community. I will try to involve girls from all secondary schools in Windhoek to join me at these workshops,” she explained.

After having read the book Gifted Hands by Ben Carson, Beukes was inspired by his life story and has the dream of studying medicine.

“Most of his profound work was in neurosurgery and this is where my passion to become a neurosurgeon started. My love for children caused me to extend this dream of mine and become a paediatric neurosurgeon,” she said. Her dream does not end there and she would like to practice as a medical doctor without borders, which will allow her to reach out to the most vulnerable parts of the world, including in Namibia. “I would like to invest my skills and abilities of being a qualified specialist in the most needed areas.”

Beukes advises young people to have the right attitude, “because your attitude keeps you at the top”.

“Also, be passionate and determined in everything you do. Determination with the right attitude forms the bridge between your goals and your accomplishments.”



Tunohole Mungoba