Nong changed her life against all odds

Through it all though, she was able to find ways of getting herself back on track and is now helping other troubled young people to change their lives for the better, regardless of their past or current situation, so they can have brighter futures.

“As a young child I was raped by my uncle, fled home, became a street kid, was later adopted by an aunt and life was still difficult with my new step-father abusing me emotionally.

“When I was in Grade Nine my world was shattered again after I was raped by my teacher and I became frustrated after the school knew about the incident but nothing was done about it,” she shares.

Anger led the teenage girl to choose the wrong friends and later she found herself leaving home again, joining prostitution to be able to support herself and buy things needed to finish her matric.

But she shares that through the grace of God, while still in that situation she was able to study further to become a nurse and leave that life.

“As a health practitioner my career flourished and I soon became a manager for infection control at the Tambo Memorial Hospital.

“I then had a vision to go and work at KwaThema, so I resigned from my job and went to work as a primary healthcare lecturer at the Ekurhuleni East College,” she says.

Nong explains that she took up this job as she wanted to be able to help young people who wanted to change their lives, through equipping themselves with skills.

She adds that this job was very meaningful to her and she was happy being there as she was able to assist young people who had been written off as lost causes by others.

“During my time as a lecturer we had some young people who were previously drug addicts. They were taken by the school and today they are graduates or will soon be graduating, which was very fulfilling for me,” she adds.

In April she resigned from the college to focus more on her registered NGO, called Move for Transformation Ministry, which is an organisation with the aim of providing spiritual, educational, health and psycho-social support to the community.

It also encourages churches and governmental departments to work together in dealing with social ills and equipping community members, especially parents with parental skills, to assist them to cope with troubled young people, helping those involved in drugs with referrals to place such as SANCA and to local social workers.

Nong also works with the Local Drug Action Committee, runs a support group at the Witpootjie Rehabilitation Centre to assist drug users and is working with the EMPD of KwaThema and social workers to following up on young people who cannot be arrested.

In giving her closing remarks to encourage parents and troubled young people, Nong says sometimes children from abusive families are crying out for help, hence they turn to drugs and other wrongful things, so children need their parents to listen to them.

“If you are a young person who is going through tough times, remember that education is key and don’t be comfortable where you are.

“Youth of today also don’t need to look for the so called ‘blessers’ to fund their schooling as education is free and there are bursaries available being provided by government or private companies,” she adds.