Sarah: A case of passion & choice
Names: Sarah Hotz
Joined enke family: 2009
Hometown: Cape Town, Western Cape
“The youth are a lot more capable than we think. The only limitation we have is our view on ourselves and our abilities. Youth are passionate dreamers, but we discuss as if it’s our disadvantage when in fact it’s our strength. The question is not whether we can build a brighter future, but rather what does a ‘brighter’ future mean to you? A future with more equality? A future with less poverty? A less violent future? Your passion, your choice.”
That’s Sarah today. But when asked about her Community Action Project (CAP), she doesn’t remember the name of it just that it was “a beautiful failure” that had something to do with medical waste being dumped in landfill sites. Although she was genuinely passionate about the environment, after getting home from enke: Forum in 2009 she realised her project was overwhelming and didn’t know where to begin. So she didn’t. But that’s not where the story ends.
Before joining the enke family, Sarah had never thought about doing a project and had very few (if any people) in her community role modelling social action. She had heard about this medical waste problem and thought it was “awful and then gotten on with my life”. Attending the enke: Forum when she was in Grade 11 gave her the opportunity to be away from the people she knew and be in a new group of forward-thinking people, some like her and some completely different. It challenged the apathetic lifestyle she was living and made her question how she had defined herself, and allowed others to define her.
By the time she started university she was seeking out people and ways to be more involved in social change. While she still wants to study Medicine, the reason Sarah wants this has changed – rather than focusing only on achievement she knows now that in her career she wants to help people people, she wants a passion. And she applies a similar logic to social change. She’s back again this year, 2014, as a Presenter (her second year in a row) in enke’s Ignition Program and says she keeps coming back because “I’m constantly making new friendships…with people who challenge me, how I present myself and my point of view”.
For her, training up young people is the only way to get passionate leaders, capable of making real, sustainable change, and Sarah wants to be part of that!
We want to reach 1000 more young people like Sarah by the end of 2015. You can help us support more projects like this by contributing to our crowdfunding campaign here: http://igg.me/at/enkeMYM/x/828715
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