Mohinee Heeramun : from timid lady to charismatic leader 

Dedication, passion and commitment have turned Mohinee Heeramun into a role model worthy of emulation for the next generation. Her determination to overcome her timidity has paid off. Today, Mohinee Heeramun is not only the President of Rotaract of Ebene but also features in different organisations bringing out the best in her surroundings.  

A professional in administration, Mohinee Heeramun has been a young leader since 2014. She has joined the Rotaract world since 2014. She has been in several other NGOs like the JCI of Port Louis, Leadership Development Programme and Allora Life Adventures. She reveals that she has been handling different posts in the Rotaract World such as director for Club Administration, treasurer, project director, secretary and now president. “After my university studies and earning a degree, I found myself looking for a bigger and higher purpose; the need to learn more and to be a better person. I discovered volunteerism and found out that this was one conduit that could help me to improve and build upon what I already know. I wanted to shift from being an inexperienced person to a skilled, strong and capable leader.”

As the new president of the Club, she has set the objective of creating more leaders and promoting friendship. “Rotaract has been a platform where I got the opportunity to learn so much and grow as an independent person. It is a never-ending growth for a Rotaractor. I would say my contribution has not been enough, while my involvement could be so much more. I have met people during my days in volunteerism, who gave up their jobs so as to be able to follow their passion of serving the community. I have contributed more towards helping those people in their work: The administrative part, to raise funds, to advertise and promote their work on social medias and to look for sponsors.”

Additionally, she has a strong belief that learning is a never-ending process. “As a group leader or even as a team member, and now president, I believe that I have always shown leadership skills whereby I have contributed in developing the skills and capacities of other volunteers. These people also form part of our society and they are the ones who will continue to bring changes in our society for a better future.”

The young lady also indicates that innovation comes from creativity. “For our youth to be creative, we must trigger in them an interest which will bring about ideas which may relate to their passion. In doing so, finding a way to merge their creation with the challenges we are facing in society, may help to eradicate social ills that are gnawing at innocent people, especially the youth, and this will definitely evolve into a positive change in their respective communities.” 

The pathway of Mohinee was not as rosy or as easy as it appeared. There was a time where she had to overcome various challenges simultaneously. “Being timid by nature did not help at all. It is not a good quality to be celebrated. In this context, I have started reciting a mantra to myself – ‘get out of your comfort zone’.” I would freeze and could never be able to speak in front of an audience. Team work was never my forte but now, I believe that individuality contributes a lot to a decision.” 

Societal issues 

The president of Rotaract avers that one acute deficiency of our society is civism, especially related to good manners or behaving properly towards others. “We have an intelligent society but who is not educated properly. We have people concerned with what subjects are being taught in school, the competition level, if a child will surpass another one, but no one cares for the basic life etiquettes being passed to the new generation or if the children actually need what the society (today) is teaching them. Allora Life Adventures is a NGO, using Project Based Learning to tackle this exact societal issue and more.”

Projects 

Till now, she states that the Rotary of Ebene has been involved in the following activities: Clean-up campaign, celebrating Peace Day, tree planting, workshops (How to tackle sponsors, rethinking single use plastics, Filling of Income Tax Return), among others. However, along with the Club, she has other upcoming projects like Petanque tournament, bingo night, more tree planting, community projects, awareness for plastic pollution and lots more impactful projects. 

Where her own interests are concerned, the young lady has eyes full of dreams. She wishes to see a clean Mauritius, helpful and well-mannered individuals at every corner of the country. “It is high time we have lesser NGOs with the same objectives coming together as one.”