ABOUT THE MILLENNIUM FELLOWSHIP - CLASS OF 2021
United Nations Academic Impact and MCN are proud to partner on the Millennium Fellowship. In 2021, over 25,000 young leaders on 2,000+ campuses across 153 nations applied to join the Class of 2021. 136 campuses worldwide (just 6%) were selected to host the 2,000+ Millennium Fellows. The Class of 2021 is bold, innovative, and inclusive.
UNITED NATIONS ACADEMIC IMPACT AND MCN PROUDLY PRESENT BATANDWA KETELO, A MILLENNIUM FELLOW AND CAMPUS DIRECTOR FOR THE CLASS OF 2021.
University of the Western Cape | Cape Town, South Africa | Advancing SDG 3 & UNAI 10
" It is better to die for an idea that will live, than to live for an idea that will die. - Steve Biko. When the late Mr. Biko said those words, he knew that his willingness to achieve the Black Consciousness(regardless of the circumstances) will forever continue even when he is no more because of his commitment and dedication to the cause. Being part of the Millennium Fellowship will help me make use of the provided and available knowledge to exalt my skills so as to ensure that all people in society are positively impacted. Especially the ones less fortunate, from poor communities, and without hope. I am grateful for the opportunity and excited to meet and work with different people who share the same sentiments about how life can be made better, even by few chosen individuals. "
Millennium Fellowship Project: In Need Of Your Help
An on-campus and virtual, vivid, and active mental health support is what my project will be about. It will be a project of getting stakeholders on and off campus who would be there to support students when in need of mental health support and comfort. As much as there are advertisements on the availability of counseling on campus, it is not helpful at all. Students are required to make appointments and get wait-listed for weeks or even months to go by without getting the help they need. So, the purpose of my project is to get available counselors, social workers, or any professional person with knowledge of psychology to be there when needed by students because, at times, all we need is someone to be there to listen to our struggles and pains and just by knowing that you can be easily helped is a relief and a blessing on its own. The core goal is to also decrease the rate of suicidal students on campus because of academic stress and personal problems that are not easy to talk about to just anyone.
About the Millennium Fellow
Batandwa Ketelo is a beautiful, gifted, ambitious, and hard-working final year student at the University of the Western Cape doing B.Com(Econ & Finance). She was born in South Africa, at Queenstown and resides in Cape Town where she is doing her studies. Batandwa has always been interested in everything and anything that bring about social change for the good. Since high school, she has been into public speaking and debates about issues that concern society, the importance of mental health and education, and mostly women and children. She has volunteered in an NGO on campus called the Gender Equity Unit, as she believes in the provision of safe spaces for all people and being accepted for who they truly are. Batandwa yearns to be a lot of things, including bringing people together through music, but she mostly aspires to advocate for the importance of mental health and it being taken seriously.
