Yanelisa

I met Yanelisa through one of our family friends, Gunter, who had known her since she was a little girl. Gunter supported Yanelisa throughout school and, when she got to high school, he asked me if I would be able to tutor her in Maths.

I was immediately blown away by how hardworking and dedicated to her schoolwork she was. We would spend hours revising concepts until she was confident she had nailed each one. She would work late into the night and do all the homework I'd set for her, which I found remarkable - not many kids are this dedicated to their studies.

Yanelisa is the kind of person who never asks for anything - I have to force her Christmas wishlist out of her. And her joy when I give her her presents is like nothing else; I have a lot to learn from her when it comes to gratitude.

She's quite soft-spoken, incredibly polite and unbelievably kind; she always puts others before herself. Yanelisa has a very close bond with her mom Primrose, who is an absolute angel.

Yanelisa was interested in pursuing a degree in medicine, either as a doctor or a nurse. She spent some of her school holidays job shadowing nurses and thoroughly enjoyed it. When it came time for her to choose, however, she decided to enrol in chef school.

She absolutely excelled in her courses at chef school. Unfortunately, she was not able to get funding to continue her studies. Although this was devastating, she took this in her stride and started looking for other opportunities. Her mother's employer was able to get her a position at the Silo Hotel's Granary Cafe, where Yanelisa has been working for almost a year now. I had the pleasure of going to the Silo to have dinner prepared by Yanelisa and can confirm that she is a brilliant chef.

For now, the plan is for Yanelisa to continue working at the Silo and to learn from the incredible chefs there, and hopefully one day Lolla's Light will be able to cover her studies so she can return to chef school.