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Selinah Maphorogo, Woman of the year 1996
As a co-founder, and then a co-ordinator of the rural women empowerment project called Elim Care Group Project, she has been instrumental in training rural women in primary health care including child nutrition and hygiene, as volunteers doing home based care and income generating projects to alleviate poverty. An important part of her duties are to empower the rural women to go out and transfer their knowledge to the rest of their community members. When winning the Award, she has worked in this project for 20 years with little recognition. However the award has encouraged her to continue with her work for as long as she lives. Thanks to the exposure of the Award, various countries have approached Selinah to assist in initiating similar projects in their countries. Mozambique has sent delegates to come and learn from her. In 1998 she visited Ghana to share the Care Group’s success story. “The result of this visit has been terrific. In 2000 we received feedback from our counterparts in Ghana that they have managed to successfully implement the skills we had taught them,” Selinah says proudly. The Limpopo Provincial Parliament had also recognised her work and The Hounourable Premier Sello Moloto announced this during the State Address in the Lipompo Legislature. Selinah says winning the Award has had a positive influence in her life. “I realised that I was operating on a small scale, therefore I had to accelerate. On retirement I started operating in an outreach programme with an intention of reaching whoever needs my assistance. “I have started assisting schools, organisations (including those of the elderly) and institutions in health promotion, greenery projects and links with the international development agencies. I am also assisting the orphanage programmes in various organisations.” She says she has also realised that she is growing old and she wanted to share her experience with those who want to continue her work. With the help of Dr Erika Sutler who was her partner in founding the Elim Care Group, she documented their experiences in a book for people who have an interest in community development. "The Community is my University, a voice from the grassroots on rural health and development” was published in 2003. Selinah’s advice for the 2007 nominees is: “We are all in the great race of life full of challenges. We are born for a purpose and full of potential. Maximise your potential, be courageous and continue to serve regardless of the challenges you may face. Rather consider the challenges as stepping-stones than stumbling blocks. Let them move you forward.” Of her future plans Selinah says reaching out to the community at large remains her dream. “I intend to continue supporting the Elim Care Group Project as I have founded it. I intend to be accessible to all organisations and institutions by transferring knowledge and skills, to assist in fundraising for community organisations. “I intend linking more organisations and schools with the global world to transfer knowledge and skills when they seek assistance.” Selinah went on to become one of the three finalists of the Nelson Mandela Award for Health and Human Rights in 1997 and was also nominated for an international award endorsed by the World Health Organisation. The work she has done with the Elim Care Group has been used to steer similar projects in a number of other African countries with great success. In early 2008 Ms Maphhorogo received an award for Community Empowerment for Selfless Service from the Calvary Church in Venda. |
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The 1996 overall and health category winner of the Shoprite Checkers / SABC3 Woman of the Year Award was Selina Maphorogo, who won for her enormous contribution to the health and welfare of her community as a nurse at Elim hospital and a co-founder of Elim Care Group Project in the former Gazankulu, and Northern Province and parts of Mpumalanga Province. She has been the formidable force in community health care reconstruction in these areas. Her enormous contribution to the health and welfare of her community as a nurse and a co-founder of the Elim Care Group was rewarded in 1996 when she became the first Shoprite Checkers / SABC3 Woman of the Year.