Phumzile Nyembe: Noah’s Woman of the Year

On Saturday 5 December 2009 Phumzile Nyembe, an Ark Development Officer for Noah in the Newcastle region, was awarded the title “Woman of the Year” by Soul Magazine. Phumzile was nominated for her amazing dedication and commitment to children in South Africa. Phumzile we salute you and your dedication and congratulate you on your achievement.

Phumzile works for Noah as an Ark Development Officer. In this role she provides mentoring and support to existing Arks, investigates the possibility of new Arks and mobilises communities to better care for their orphaned and vulnerable children. Phumzile has created networks of care for children at risk through empowering community committees, launching feeding programmes and supporting educational and health programmes at Noah Arks. She is a treasure to her community and has become a beacon of light for children. Despite reaching retirement age, and being able to take a well deserved break, Phumzile continues to work with communities and fight for a better life for each child.

Phumzile has dedicated her life to improving the well being of children in her community. This she has done in both her professional capacity at Noah and her personal capacity through initiating a school for children with special needs in Ladysmith, starting “Phumzile’s Project” a project dedicated to providing school leavers with appropriate skills, and raising funds for a residential hostel for boarders at her special needs projects.

Phumzile believes that all children deserve a chance in life and has worked tirelessly to find ways to achieve this. Through her work at Noah as well as in her community she has illustrated that each of us can make a difference. Her dedication and passion for volunteerism is evident in everything that she does. Phumzile is a treasured member of the Noah team and we are incredibly proud of her achievements. Congratulations Mam Nyembe from all of us at Noah.