Phineas Modiba, Vesconite’s stores trainee, has had an unusual introduction to the company, having started immediately prior to South Africa’s lock-down and having weathered the most restrictive period of the lock-down, when he was forced to stay at home.
Into his fifth month of work at the company, he is currently one of the few staff members on hand in the company’s Johannesburg warehouse, and is attending to customers’ needs, with many companies returning to business in this less-restrictive level-3 South African lock-down period.
Modiba has a background in teaching yoga with Yoga4Alex, a non-profit that offers yoga to school students in Alexandra, a densely populated and under-serviced area.
Through yoga, he has been able to assist many students with Kundalini-Yoga-related tools that help them cope with stress and anxiety in school and beyond.
As part of the same programme, he tutored school students in reading in Alexandra, and was instrumental in improving the reading level of many primary and high school students.
Modiba had been learning about Vesconite’s polymers as well as the company’s stock of hollow bar, rods, plates and custom machined items prior to lock-down and has resumed his on-site training as South Africa returns to a new normal that requires social distancing and the wearing of masks in public places and at work.
“I am enjoying being a stores trainee,” says Modiba of his new job, “There is a way through every block. Whatever challenges you face, you will overcome them.”