Laveenia Shigwedha, a Grade 9 learner from Westside High School in Swakopmund, became the third and last winner in Rössing Uranium's Erongo high school radio outreach programme called “The Rössing Story”. The series officially ended on 23 November. The school she attends - Westside High School - were also rewarded as a result of Laveenia's participation and it is just reward for both learner and school as Westside High actively promoted and supported their learners to take part in the exciting series that ran weekly on West Coast Radio 107.7 FM from September to November this year.
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Tanya Louw (Principal: Westside High School and Laveenia Shigwedha (November winner) |
Alfeus Abiatar and Richard Geiseb |
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Rössing Corporate Communications Advisor, Anna Ingwafa with Alfeus Abiatar (September winner) and Richard Geiseb (Koin Foundation Principal) |
Paul Fisher (Principal: Swakopmund Secondary School, Weritjiwa Katjiri (October winner) and Bennett //Khaibeb (Chairman of the SSS board). |
As winners, Laveenia received a cash prize of N$500-00 and her school N$1500-00 in the weekly competition that was linked to the educational radio series for high school learners in the Erongo Region. Laveenia's entry came in Week 1 of the November episodes with the question she answered correctly being:
Q: WHY WAS THE RöSSING FOUNDATION ESTABLISHED?
And the correct answer is;
B: TO IMPLEMENT RöSSING'S SOCIAL, CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY PROGRAMMES IN THE COMMUNITY
Laveenia was pleasantly surprised in accepting her prize at Westside High's premises and explained that she never thought she would win because “So many of my friends decided to enter and me being in Grade 9 only, I never expected to do this well.” She added “I wanted to learn more about how Rössing mines uranium and what it is used for and that is why I decided to listen every week since the programme started in September and test myself to see what I have learned.” With the start of Festive Season just around the corner Laveenia proved why she is a winner by saying “I am going to save my cash prize so that I can invest in my education and pay for my school books next year.”
Westside High School's Principal, Tanya Louw, who congratulated Laveenia on her winning the November competition of The Rössing Story, said “We as a school are very grateful to Rössing, as part of the business community, for supporting schools in the region and setting an example to follow” and “This is an unexpected reward brought about by the creation of a platform by Rössing for our children to perform. Thank you to the mine and also to the Rössing Foundation, with their annual award ceremonies for schools, teachers and scholars, for the support and encouragement we receive.”
The Rössing Story outreach programme is aimed at high school learners in Grades 11 and 12 and with the radio version this year an audience of around 1000 learners in the Erongo Region was targeted. This initiative will now be adapted for an even wider audience as the goal is to go National with it in 2012 and share the information with learners in all regions of Namibia. The 12-episode long programme is expected to follow the same format where the episodes are presented by a fictional Rössing employee called Ross. Listeners can join Ross on the virtual mine tour bus for an educational visit in every episode where they learn more about the mine's operations, with particular focus on its Health, Safety and Environmental practices and uranium and radiation. Bursary opportunities and possible career opportunities at the mine for school leavers and university graduates are also discussed and explained.
Here is a rundown of the three winners of the competition and their schools as well as the 12 questions that were asked during the three-month long series and their correct answers out of three options:
Monthly winners
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September: Alfeus Abiatar, Grade 11 - Kolin Foundation (Arandis)
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October: Weritjiwa Katjiri - Grade 11 - Swakopmund Secondary School
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November: Laveenia Shigwedha - Grade 9 - Westside High School (Swakopmund)
Monthly questions and correct answers
SEPTEMBER
Week 1
Q: WHAT IS RöSSING'S URANIUM USED FOR?
B: AS AN ENERGY SOURCE FOR THE GENERATION OF ELECTRICITY IN NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS
Week 2
Q: NAME ONE OF THE CONTROLS USED BY RöSSING TO ENSURE SAFETY AT THE MINE.
C: PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT (PPE)
Week 3
Q: COMPLETE RöSSING'S SAFETY MOTTO: IF YOU CANNOT DO IT SAFELY
B: DON'T DO IT AT ALL
Week 4
Q: NAME ONE OF THE HEALTH RISKS AT RöSSING.
B: DUST
OCTOBER
Week 1
Q: WHO DOES RöSSING HAVE ON SITE TO HELP THEM WITH THEIR WELLNESS CAMPAIGNS?
C: PEER EDUCATORS
Week 2
Q: HOW CAN RöSSING'S EMPLOYEES MINIMISE THEIR EXPOSURE TO RADIATION?
A: BY PAYING ATTENTION TO TIME, DISTANCE AND SHIELDING
B: BY WEARING A DUST MASK AND ENSURING THAT WORK AREAS ARE WELL VENTILATED.
C: BY WEARING THE CORRECT PPE (PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT)
Week 3
Q: WHAT DOES RöSSING DO TO MAKE SURE THAT THEY TAKE THE ENVIRONMENT INTO CONSIDERATION WHEN THEY MINE URANIUM?
C: BY ATTAINING ISO 14001 CERTIFICATION
Week 4
Q: DOES RöSSING HAVE AN ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT SECTION?
A: YES
NOVEMBER
Week 1
Q: WHY WAS THE RöSSING FOUNDATION ESTABLISHED?
B: TO IMPLEMENT RöSSING'S SOCIAL, CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY PROGRAMMES IN THE COMMUNITY
Week 2
Q: IN WHICH TOWNS ARE RöSSING'S MATHS AND SCIENCE CENTRES LOCATED?
C: SWAKOPMUND, ARANDIS, ONDANGWA
Week 3
Q: WHERE ARE RöSSING'S BURSARIES ADVERTISED?
C: IN NEWSPAPERS AND ON THE RöSSING WEBSITE
Week 4
Q: WHO CAN APPLY FOR RöSSING BURSARIES?
A: ANYBODY WHO MEETS THE ADVERTISED REQUIREMENTS
Issued by: Rössing Corporate Communications.
Contact person:
Botha Ellis
Corporate Communications advisor
Rössing mine
Tel: 064 - 520 2426.
Fax: 064 - 520 1506
Mobile: 081 286 0456
e-mail: botha.ellis@riotinto.com