The 12-year-old Vhulenda Tuwani of Muledane outside Thohoyandou has become an instant hero in her community and school after winning the highly competitive Limpopo Human Rights debate competition.

The bright young learner beat more than 70 other learners from eight schools in the Vhembe District to win the much-coveted first prize.

Vhulenda, a grade 7 learner at Jim Tshivhonelo Primary School in Muledane in the Thohoyandou area, won herself and one of her parents an all-expenses-paid trip to Constitutional Hill in Gauteng. The trip will be undertaken on a date still to be confirmed.

The finals of the competition were held at Jim Tshivhonelo Primary School on Friday last week. Judges included reputable officials from the Department of Education, the SA Human Rights Commission and the TVEP.

The topic of the debate was: The Right to Dignity. What does it mean to you?

Amnesty International’s provincial co-ordinator, Mr George Makhwa, said the competition was an effort by his organisation to create awareness among young people about human rights matters.

“We have been running workshops for educators since we started this programme, but we have not done enough to include the young ones. They deserve to know about their rights. We came to realize that it was about time that we worked with the young ones, so that a culture of human rights is developed in them during their formative stage,” he said.

Makhwa said they were in the process of lobbying Government to change their curriculum to be human rights friendly.

Eight schools from the Vhembe District participated in the debate wherein each school selected ten learners who debated amongst themselves until a winner was found.

The winners from the eight schools met during the finals and battled it out for the coveted first prize.

After a fierce war of words, Vhulenda emerged victorious.

“I knew I was going to make it. I studied hard and read some books. My educators and parents also encouraged me,” said the humble Vhulenda.

Vhulenda said she was very excited that, for the first time in her life, she would be able to fly in an aeroplane and sleep in a fancy city hotel. “I am very excited and hope to bring all I will have learnt during the trip to come and share with my fellow learners,” she said.

School principal Mrs Takalani Guduvheni was over the moon. “This girl has done us very proud as a school. She has won several competitions, but this one has put our school in the spotlight,” she said.