Bedfordview residents Mr Vis and Advocate Mona Naidoo believe there is more to life than material wealth.
Dubbed the empowerment couple, the husband and wife team has made strides in bettering the lives if girls in poor communities.
As part of the Trek4Mandela Caring for Girls initiative, the couple will join 41 other South Africans who will climb Africa’s highest mountain, Mount Kilimajaro, in Tanzania on July 13.
The campaign is aimed at keeping girls in school by providing sanitary towels. It also coincides with Nelson Mandela International Day.
The group will summit on July 20.
Adv Naidoo said she first heard about the project in 2015.
“I was shocked to hear that girls have to miss school during their menstruation days due to the lack of sanitary pads. I knew I had to do something. However, time passed and life got in the way until September last year when my husband and I decided to become part of the project,” she said.
She said for them, donating just money is not enough.
“We could have easily donated money to the course, but we wanted to get involved. We love spending time with the children and teach them how to live an inspired life. There is no fulfilment than the one one gets when we see the girls’ faces. It is pure joy,” said Adv Naidoo.
Her husband, Mr Naidoo, said the couple has chosen Winile Secondary School in Zonkizizwe within the Palm Ridge area.
“The school is the second poorest in the whole of Ekurhuleni. It has over 800 girls who come from disadvantaged backgrounds. We are more than honoured to be able to not only give back to these girls, but to awaken their inner potential and set them on the path to dreaming big,” said Mr Naidoo.
Adv Naidoo said the biggest mistake people make when interacting with children from poor communities is to look at where they come from.
“We should be looking at what’s inside the children. We should be giving them hope. We need to ignite the spark and let them know that it’s okay to dream big. In fact, let’s tell them to dream the biggest dream they can,” she said.
Mr Naidoo is a sales executive at Barloworld Logistics and Adv Naidoo is a deputy director of public prosecutions at the NPA, specialising in tax crimes.
She said the fact that the school is situated near the High Court in Palm Ridge gives her an opportunity to make the children see the courts in a better light.
“I remind the children not to see the courts in a negative light. They have no reason not to become judges and prosecutors in the future. We tell them that education leads to empowerment, which leads to confidence and better decision making, which leads to a reduced crime rate and a better quality of life,” said Adv Naidoo.
The couple urged members of the community to also support the #MillionComforts initiative.
“All people need to do is buy a packet or more of pads at Dischem and drop them off at a basket provided in store. These are collected for the Caring for Girls initiative,” said Mr Naidoo.
He said an SMS line has also been set up for members of the community to make donations to the initiative.
“Those at home can help us keep a girl child in school by sending the words Vis or Mona to 42513 and the money will go into the specific school that we support,” said Mr Naidoo.
