Youth network remembers Mthatha Flood victims

The Eastern Cape is known as the birthplace of our country’s freedom heroes, and it is also home to legends. The likes of Nelson Mandela, Thabo Mbeki, Oliver Reginald Tambo, and the list goes on. However, the Eastern Cape province is one of the poorest in South Africa, with a high level of unemployment. 

Responding to this, early morning on the last Thursday of Women’s month, at Botha Sigcau building, the Generation Gender (G) champions gathered at underprivileged schools to donate school uniforms and toiletries. The morning started off with the Generation G team sharing uplifting words to the learners and encouraging them that no matter the situation they might face at home, they deserve the freedom to be confident at school, look and smell decent around their peers. 

Restoring Dignity

The theme of the day was “restoring dignity and empowering learners during women’s month”. This month of August voices out the importance of taking care of women and children, as they are most likely to be victims of abuse in our communities. GBV is a serious matter in this country; having programs such as these is a powerful tool to fight for the dignity of women and young children in our societies. 

Umtata is surrounded by rural schools with underprivileged learners.  The recent floods in Mthatha left many families mourning their loved ones, belongings and properties damaged. Kalima Kiza (14) from Jumba Senior Secondary School expressed gratitude for this initiative and said, “I feel happy, at school most of us lost our uniforms during the floods, and now getting these donations means a lot to us and our parents”. 

Bullying in Schools

Learners at schools are victims of bullying, and it may start with a comment about a torn school jersey, shirt or pants that can leave a learner insecure and not confident to be around others. A movement like this brings so much hope to a child.

Aphelele Mgwenye (28) teacher from Zwelibangile Senior Secondary School, shared her views on this project as an excellent movement “As a teacher, it is easy to identify a learner indeed of uniform or toiletries; this is why we created a database with vulnerable learners who cannot afford to replace a torn jersey or damaged shoes. This project makes me happy as our learners because now our learners will look decent like the others and feel much better to show up at school feeling confident”.  

Nyanisa Ngculu (54) teacher from S.P.S, added, “As the school, this program assisted us and our learners so much because we have a high number of learners who come from poor households, also some are victims of the recent floods, so now it makes us happy to leave this event with children wearing their new school uniform and toiletries”. 

Giving Back

The program proceeded at Botha Sigcau with phase 2, and the Generation G champions handed out sanitary pads to the learners from various schools in the audience. This part of the program was also very important because in South Africa, we are facing the challenge of young girls who miss school during their menstrual period. After all, they cannot afford sanitary pads. A girl child can go on her menstrual period for 4 – 7 days, and this means they can be absent from school activities for a week, which they cannot afford to buy sanitary pads. The Generation G team taught the learners how to use these sanitary pads, how to be hygienic while using them and where to throw used pads. Every female learner took home their own new sanitary pads. 

Amongst the learners, there were various cases; some walked in with old shoes that were not in good condition, others were not wearing school shoes at all, but their casual sneakers. This was an indication that there’s a challenge, and they must attend school wearing these sneakers or torn shoes. However, the champions handed out a new pair of shoes to them, and it was an exciting moment for students and some of them could not wait and put on the new shoes immediately after the Generation G team handed them out. It was a if they had been longing for this moment. It is initiatives like these that create positive changes in underprivileged communities like Mthatha. 

Life after Mthatha floods

The death toll shows at least 92 people lost their lives, while 4000 people were left displaced. The heavy inflow left children without parents; some are still missing, and sadly, even some learners lost their lives as well. School health coordinator Xoliswa Nodada (62) from the Department of Education at Botha Sigcau emphasized that “Mthatha has been a priority since the recent floods, there were some who lost their parents, so we felt we need not only give psychosocial support but also material support because all their clothes and cosmetics were flooded away during the floods”.  

The community campaign was a success. Vulnerable learners left with more than they had anticipated. This initiative put a smile on the children’s faces; they literally walked out as new people in their brand-new uniforms. Not only did they walk away with materialistic support, but words of encouragement from the speakers, encouraging them to be the change drivers in their own lives, no matter where they come from, they can become successful despite personal issues they deal with daily, they are in charge of their future, and they can bring positive outcomes to their communities. 

Conclusion

At the end of the amazing event at Botha Sigcau in Mthatha, one of the learners stood up and showed gratitude to the organisers of the event and those who had donated uniforms and toiletries to the learners present at the event. She shared how important this act of kindness meant to them and encouraged the organisations involved to continue supporting other children in need to also make a change in their lives. After thanking the organisers, the learners wished well to those who had shown support to them during this difficult time, which was such a noble thing to come out from a young learner.

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By Amanda Somyalo