STUDENTS FROM PELLA RECEIVE ASSISTANCE

June 2021, Konkoonsies Solar Power.

Rosalie Engelsman, from the small rural town of Pella in the Northern Cape’s Namakwaland, is one of the many local beneficiaries currently studying with the assistance of Konkoonsies Solar Power’s bursary programme.

“My plan is to return to Pella and hopefully get a job in a finance department within a Northern Cape business and then set up my own company, to provide services that are currently lacking in the Northern Cape area,” explained Rosalie Engelsman.

This 22-year old is studying a National Diploma in Business Retail Management at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT). She enrolled to begin her studies last year and is currently in her second year of the three-year course, hoping to finish up in December 2022.

Having relocated from Pella to Cape Town to study at CPUT, like many students, she returned home during the COVID-19 lockdown, and has had to continue her studies online when campus-based lectures ceased. She returned to Cape Town after Easter this year, to take advantage of the better internet services and hopefully get to spend more time on campus.

“Rosalie is one of five students to have received financial support from our bursary programme which has been running for over four years, giving learners living in Pofadder, Onseepkans and Pella access to tertiary education. The programme helps them to fulfil their dreams and includes the cost of tuition fees, travel, accommodation costs, book allowances and even a stipend,” explained Tsholofelo Moote, Economic Development Practitioner at Konkoonsies Solar Power.