UP CLOSE … with Jenita Laporte, TV presenter, actress and entertainer |20 May 2014
‘For me life is meant to be enjoyed no matter what’
By Marie-Anne Lepathy
Better known for her carefree and hilarious personality through her acting and ability to entertain, she has recently earned much more popularity 
through presenting the cultural and traditional programme Kapatya on television.
When I caught up with her last week, Jenita Laporte -- who is currently employed as a senior programme assistant in the Ministry of Social Affairs, Community Development and Sports -- was more than eager to let me in on her secrets to being always so joyful even when the going is quite tough and others around her are feeling the heat.
Welcoming me in her office Jenita started talking and she had so many anecdotes to recount that I could only manage to butt in a few times with my questions to her.
“Sorry my dear but this is how I am,” she said laughing out loud.
“I have no secrets, it is just how I am. I love life so much and I like being happy and full of laughter all the time,” she told me.
About Jenita Laporte
As a programme assistant Jenita is responsible to coordinate activities for community groups but more specifically for senior citizens and for her this job is just great.
“I enjoy my job so much and along the way I have learned a lot from the senior citizens,” she said.
Coming from a family of 10 - seven brothers and two sisters -- Jenita said her childhood at Forêt Noire was where she enjoyed life in the community to the fullest and this is probably where her love for working with people comes from.
Jenita went to school at St Claire’s in Victoria until Primary 5, then continued her studies at the Good Shepherd School (Mont Fleuri) and was always a bright and very active but mischievous child as well at times. She attended her secondary education at the Modern School in the early 70s and when it was time to make her career choices, with her dream of learning different languages very much alive, Jenita opted for the domestic science school where she had a chance to learn everything essential to pursue a career in the tourism industry.
She still vividly recalled in June 1975 with her newly acquired knowledge of the tourism industry she was recruited for her first job and in July the same year she started work at the Mahé Beach Hotel at Port Glaud.
“I started my career as a waitress and was promoted to barmaid then to restaurant supervisor at the then Mahé Beach Hotel. This was where I started developing social, interpersonal and also my skills as an organizer,” said Jenita.
She remained there for some 17 years and was at some point managing the topmost restaurant in the hotel Jardin des Palmes. But she left after the hotel changed management in the early 80s.
After a brief spell at the Beau Vallon Bay Hotel she took up a supervisory position at the Pirates Arms in 1983, the year she also got married.
She left several years later following the birth of her two daughters and surprisingly she found herself working in the community, taking on her first position with the then Local Government. In 1994 she left to take a new position at the Creole Institute but still she was greatly involved with people in the community at different levels, something she loves very much. But for one reason or another after several more years Jenita asked for a transfer to her present post at the Ministry of Social Affairs, Community Development and Sports.
Work with the senior citizens in the community
“My work with the senior citizens is my greatest achievement because when I look back I realise that I have succeeded in bringing many people out of their secluded and sometimes boring life to be active again.
“I have learned a lot from the senior citizens and I am very grateful to them,” she said.
“Our senior citizens have a lot of talents and these have been evident in the two Granmoun Sa shows that I have spearheaded,” she pointed out.
Jenita remembered that the idea was first brought here by the Reunionnais as a way to group senior citizens and bring out the best of the talents they still possess in spite of their age.
“It was not easy to begin with but in the end I succeeded in staging the shows with the help of an eager and devoted team of course,” she recalled.
“This is indeed a great achievement and thinking of it makes me really happy,” Jenita noted.
Her work in the community has earned her great respect and she has gained a lot of experience mobilising young people and the senior citizens to take part more actively in regional and national cultural events as well as in community based activities.
“I will always cherish the memories of the years I worked as a receptionist/guide at the Creole Institute where I must say I earned the reputation of an accomplished and typical Creole woman.
Certainly I contribute my fair share to the Creole festival such as organising for some five years the ‘Laserenad’, a popular activity of the festival,” she noted.
Thinking about the future Jenita said she has great plans to take the Granmoun Sa shows to greater heights.
“I want to bring together the most talented senior citizens, work with them over the coming year and why not bring the Granmoun Sa shows on a tour of countries in the region to begin with,” Jenita said enthusiastically.
“This is my dream and I firmly believe I will be able to make it come true,” Jenita said.
Jenita the actress and entertainer
Jenita, who now lives at Au Cap with husband Danny and her two daughters, is a well known local actress. Her most popular roles are as Eugenia Larenn Fanm in the popular local musical piece Sanmdi Swar lo Sen Pyer and as Tantin Poupet in the comedy Bolot Feray.
Even though she has played these roles, Jenita admits she is not part of any acting groups.
“This is me, I have always loved and enjoyed acting even though I am not committed to any particular group but any producer, writer who offers me a role I gladly accept as I can easily fit in,” she said proudly.
“This is how I love my life and this is the way I am. I also enjoy the role of master of ceremonies (MC) at parties and other occasions,” she told me.
But Jenita admits that she has received no coaching whatsoever in that area as well.
“I believe it is just something in my personality and as people appreciate the way I entertain them so I say why not and seize the opportunity to bring some fun and laughter at different occasions where it is needed,” she pointed out.
“I can assure you that you will have very little to worry about if you put the MC part of your event in my good hands,” she said.
“I consider myself a charming, welcoming and talented hostess and no matter how tight and tense the situation or how high the pressure, I am not one to give up or lose control and I believe that is why people take to me so easily,” she said laughing.
“For me life is meant to be enjoyed no matter what,” she laughed.
Jenita as the TV presenter
For some time now Jenita has been presenting the cultural and traditional programme Kapatya on television.
“I enjoy going out and meet people in the secluded corners of the districts for these programmes and the viewers really enjoy the programmes’ cultural and traditional richness. I can assure you that I have learned a lot from the people I visit when I research for these different programmes and our viewers have expressed their satisfaction and appreciation through the many calls we receive,” noted Jenita.
“I am really proud of myself, the programme really made me discover what I can really do. I received no training whatsoever, everything just falls into place and I believe my acting and entertaining skills have contributed to making me the presenter the SBC (Seychelles Broadcasting Corporation) was looking for for the programme,” she added.
Leisure time and social life
In spite of her busy work schedule Jenita puts time aside for church where she is a member of the choir of the Perpetuel Secour Church at Pointe Au Sel where she also helps out in any way she can.
Jenita, who loves flowers, regrets that at home she does not have space for all the different varieties she is offered on her different visits in the community.
“If it was possible I would have all the different varieties of flowers. I love flowers and enjoy being surrounded by them but unfortunately I neither have space nor the time to devote to them,” she said regrettably.
Her household chores done, Jenita enjoys watching telenovelas and being a people person she loves being surrounded by laughter thus she often invites her numerous friends to her home where her husband and the rest of her family join her in her social gatherings.
With her knack for organising social events, Jenita admits that it does not and should not take much to organise a small gathering which in her case often turns out to be something big in the end after all her invitees turn up with a little something each.
“You can imagine my dear how my ‘parties’ turn out,” she said laughing.
One of her colleagues nodded in agreement and noted that for Jenita it is never too late to organise what she calls a ‘small party’.
“It only requires a few phone calls and it is remarkable how all of her friends respond positively and at so short notice,” the lady assured me.
“When it comes to organising, I never do things according to other people and I never sit back to wait for what others would say or do but I always take the lead and do what I believe in and know is right and in the end everybody is happy,” Jenita proudly said.