Justin Freminot wins Ceps Volunteers’ Award 2017 |11 December 2017

▪ Germaine Gill, Chet Hoareau win 2nd, 3rd places respectively

Justin Freminot, the chairperson of Haso and a dedicated volunteer for several decades, has clinched the Ceps Volunteers’ Award for this year.

In second and third places respectively are Germaine Gill, a part-time teacher and a founding member of ASFF and Chet Hoareau, a youth who has just completed a course in Business and Accounting with a passion to help young people turn their lives around.

The three outstanding volunteers received their awards on Friday evening during a glittering and vibrant ceremony sponsored and hosted for the second year running by Ephelia Resort.

Among those who had turned up to support the volunteers and volunteerism were Vice-President Vincent Meriton, the Minister for Family Affairs Jeanne Simeon, the French ambassador to Seychelles Lionnel Majesté-Larrouy, representatives of the different sponsors who believe in the initiative, different volunteers among other guests.

There were altogether 11 nominees for this year’s award nominated mostly by the organisations they are affiliated to. Initiated last year, nominations for this year’s award started in September and closed mid October.

The winners received cash prizes of R100,000, R50,000 and R25,000 respectively among other interesting prizes all contributed by faithful sponsors.

Speaking to the press after collecting their prizes the winners all expressed their joy and even though they said they were not expecting to be winners they all feel happy and a sense of great fulfilment that what they are doing have been recognised and is being valued.

“The truth is i was not expecting to win the prize. I was a nominee but I did not come with any expectations because for me participation is the greatest thing but I am happy I won. Volunteerism is part of my life,” Mr Freminot said.

A founding member of the Red Cross Society here in the late 80s, Mr Freminot said since then he has been more involved in volunteerism helping in different organisations and more recently the chairperson of Haso, giving support to people with HV/Aids and their families.

 Mr Freminot said his greatest passion is to help people with potential to move forward in life.

“I find great joy in helping others and improving their lives. Now that I am no longer in formal employment I have more time to dedicate to volunteerism and mind you I am more occupied than I was before and my family has always understood that volunteerism is my life. I enjoy helping people, meeting people and through these contacts and interactions I have learnt a lot and this has further developed and enlightened me as an individual,” Mr Freminot said.

For her part Ms Gill, a devoted teacher for many years, has always found time to counsel young teenage girls and other young people more particularly on their reproductive health.

“Since very young I’ve always found joy in bringing happiness to other people. Anybody who knocks on my door I help in whatever way I can. Since 1998 with the founding of the Alliance for the Solidarity with the Family (ASFF), I have always worked for the advancement, progress and improvement of other people’s lives. I cannot help it when I see people lag behind in life because of lack of information, knowledge and often just because they don’t have anyone to listen to them. For me the little I have I like to share with others to make sure they too can improve their lives. I have learned a lot from life as a volunteer and I am happy. My spirituality also pushes me to continue. This is my passion this is my life,” Ms Gill said.

She has done a lot of work with families, young mothers empowering them to take hold of their lives and become somebody in spite of everything. She counsels the youth, teenagers and she leads a lot of religious and parenting education sessions.

As a youth Chet has great interest in other activities which involve helping others like scouting and he has taken part in different volunteering initiatives both locally and abroad but he admits that time is often limited.

“Time was really a constraint and it was not easy being a student to find spare time to help other young people. But I managed and I believe I was chosen by the jury because of the way I have been helping young people at the President’s Village mostly. Many of them are not lucky to enjoy a happy childhood like I have and like other youths their age so I devote my time to helping them and leading them on the right path. I advised them a lot like a brother, helped them with their homework and to develop their skills,” Chet said.

Being the son of Jules Hoareau, a well known and active figure in volunteerism, Chet believes his commitment and desire to spare time to help others without expecting anything in return comes from within and also runs in the family.

“From a very young age my father encouraged us to be compassionate and have the heart to help others who are not as lucky to have everything including a complete family like us,” said Chet, who has just completed a course in Business Studies and Accounting and aspires to be a pilot.

Vice-President Meriton congratulated the nominees and thanked them for dedicating their time and devotion to make a difference in other people’s lives.

“The award recognises the men and women who are making valuable contributions in the communities,” Minister Simeon said, echoeing VP Meriton’s words.

“We are honouring their selfless dedication, generosity and hard work and thanking them for leading the way and inspiring the rest of us to give back and to see the value of being a volunteer,” she added.

She expressed sincere gratitude to the different sponsors who have been faithful and willing to support the initiative.

“We live in a complex, turbulent and ever changing world and we are overwhelmed by the challenges, conflicts and suffering we see around us. Through this award we can focus on what is positive, what is inspiring and on the success stories and more importantly on the brave people behind the stories,” Minister Simeon said.

She pointed out that the award recognises and value people, celebrates people who are making a deep and lasting impact on the lives of others.

Minister Simeon said there is a need to go back to basics as the world we live in can be full of contradictions and that never before have we had so much knowledge and information but yet the solutions to many of our problems remain as elusive as ever.

“Today everybody want something for nothing but not everybody is willing to work without receiving anything and this is why the award is important,” she remarked.

“Amid all the contradictions we still have some people who remind us that we can be and can do better and we call them volunteers. They define the meaning of  volunteer, they have no special qualifications and their life experiences are no different from ours, they have no fancy titles or claim to celebrity status but what separate them from us is their human qualities – empathy, perseverance, selflessness, resilience, hope and love,” Minister Simeon stressed, noting that these people deserve to be recognised and rewarded.

Acting chairperson of Ceps, Jude Fred, also had words of encouragement and gratitude to the nominees.

The ceremony saw different artists honouring the volunteers and volunteerism through poetry and songs and the two outgoing Ceps ambassadors who won the prizes last year – Rose Mary Elizabeth and Marie-Nella Azemia respectively -- made a video presentation of the work they have done empowering youths living at the Anse Royale Youth Hostel.

The evening ended with a gala dinner and entertainment.