Making magic with mentorships

Adult education has been Lona Odendaal’s focus from early on in her life. The development of peoples’ potential and helping them to make the best of their circumstances has always been her passion. Lona is part of the Hortgro Learning and Development Mentorship Programme. Gerrit Rautenbach spoke to her.

After graduating in Home Economics and earning a Higher Education Diploma, Lona’s interesting career path began at the Department of Cultural Affairs as a home economist, where she became involved in community projects, which set the ball rolling. “From there, I progressed to adult education for the Meat Board, and I even qualified as a block man… well, block person.”

Along the way, she married Frederick Odendaal, an agri-economist, and they eventually settled in Ceres, where he works for Ceres Fruit Growers. Being close to the Koue Bokkeveld, Lona became involved with adult education at the Koue Bokkeveld Opleidingsentrum, where she focuses on life skills training, a role she continues to fulfil. The next building block (she was now a different kind of block person) was getting involved with the Harmonie and Bronaar foundations when they asked her to become a mentor for a group of five students—helping them understand the unfamiliar new process (as students at various tertiary institutions) they have entered. She met them when they were in matric, and while at Elsenburg, CPUT, and Boland College, she helped them integrate into the system, teaching them how this new life works.

“Then, once they’ve done all the theory, they had to get a farm, institution, place to do their practical to graduate. I’ve found places for all of them, and after that, their fellow students started phoning me with a ‘Tannie kan jy ons ook help?’  That’s when I realised how big the need is because most of these students are not necessarily from farms but need farming experience. There is also a constant need for new talent in the business. That’s where the mentorship programme started, culminating in an internship programme for Hortgro.”

She began in 2011 with five students; today, she mentors 42. “Last year, I had 36, thinking that’s over my maximum, but how can you say no?” These 42 students are placed at 26 farming institutions, from farms to packhouses and labs across the Western Cape. It’s like having a class of 42 students dispersed over 26 schools. But Lona knows them all well and knows what their needs, strengths, weaknesses, and standings are. The focus of the mentorship programme is on personal growth and adapting to the workplace. It’s about making the mind shift from student life to the real world of work.

“I can’t teach them anything about agriculture, but it’s about seeing the person, helping them build on their strong points while identifying where they need to add extra focus on the weaker points. Sometimes, a student takes a dip, losing focus and falling behind. That’s when I have the student talk, finding out what’s in their space and what’s bothering them. Maybe he or she is just floating on the farm, sort of part of it, but not in a defined way. That’s when I have to convince them to ask the manager what they expect of them. If you don’t ask, you’ll never know. Students often feel overwhelmed and believe they have to impress. To the point that they are scared to ask what they deem to be stupid questions. The only stupid question is the unasked one,” Lona elaborates.

During the first quarter of the programme, Lona makes a point of visiting her students on all 26 farms or institutions. Almost every time, the big disillusionment occurs when they learn that the academic qualifications that got them where they are now are not the golden key to success. She has an acronym for DIPLOMA, with D representing Discipline, followed by Integrity, Passion, Leadership, Opportunity, Motivation, and Attitude.

“I make them understand that the workplace is a learning school of a different degree. Go back to square one. I have them evaluate themselves on a scale of 1 to 10 for each element of the acronym. Where they score the worst, they need to work the hardest. Thank goodness for WhatsApp because from then on, we post and post and post.”

It’s all about mindset; she recons and uses an example. A person can be in either a judgmental mindset or a learner mindset. The judge finds fault with everything the learner accumulates, constantly growing in knowledge and understanding. Her greatest joy is to transform a judge into a learner, guiding them from self-doubt to self-belief.

The programme started in Ceres, but Hortgro and deciduous fruit are spread far and wide, not only in the Western Cape but also as far as Langkloof, the Free State, Mpumalanga, and even Gauteng. “The next chapter is definitely Langkloof, and I hope and wish we can reach as far as all the other deciduous fruit production areas. There are many students from all over the world coming to study here, but then they need to return. Maybe this mentor must mentor new mentors to help them in all four corners of our deciduous fruit world.” Nobody knows what the future holds, but the recent past tells a great story. Of the 36 candidates in the program in 2024, 31 have either been employed permanently or have received extended internships because Lona is someone who always endeavours.

Mentoring is one of the most valuable forms of creating. Who better than one of the creative masters of our time, Steven Spielberg, to have the final word on it?  “The delicate balance of mentoring someone is not creating them in your image, but allowing them to create themselves.”

Quotes from students

“The mentor program was amazing. It made everything feel better by providing a safe space.” – Tshegofatso Koagile at Bella Frutta 2023/4.

“The programme covers issues that some of us are scared to talk about.” – Kheenan van Rooyen, Babylonstoren.

“Thank you for the effort you put in to develop young individuals, teaching them people management, delegation, communication and helping with relationship building.” – Tristan Dorfling has been mentoring at PROVAR since 2023.

“I learned values that matter the most in my life, like leadership skills and confidence.” – Petrus Seruwe, intern at Bo-Radyn, Villiersdorp, while still studying at UNISA.

“This program helped me to manage my emotional skills much better. Tannie Lona is a great mentor.” – Tashreeq Oliver, 2023 PROVAR intern. He is now permanently employed and is an in-house mentor.

Pictured here: Mentoring for success! Thato Madihlaba, Lona Odendaal, Michelle Mungoi, and Miso Mbongo. All three interns are cum laude CPUT graduates working at Provar in Paarl.