Helping West Village to help themselves
Nicolene Trom and Steve Bok opened a community-based NPO called the Umntu Ngumntu Ngabantu Foundation which will be based at Cowboy Town in West Village. This is their plan ...
Community leaders from West Village are not just going to sit around and wait for change to happen. Instead, they have decided to be the change they want to see in the world.
Nicolene Trom and Steve Bok opened a community-based NPO called the Umntu Ngumntu Ngabantu Foundation which means ‘I am because you are’. They aim to tackle the social ills of the community and focus on learning, education, training and development. They will be based at Cowboy Town in West Village.
• Also read: LETTER: West Village the abandoned child of the municipality
She explained how they realised a lot of the youth in their community are not working and wanted to give them an alternative to sitting at home. Their organisation looks into the issues that the youth in the Village face and then creates campaigns around that. They have already presented training on HIV/ Aids and financial literacy and have been running for little more than three months.
Steve and Nicolene, both community leaders, used to work on the ground but realised that with a foundation they can do so much more. They can get sponsorship and even go out to help other communities in South Africa.
She said that West Village has been under siege with the illegal miners and a lot of traumatic things have happened. They want to now help the victims of the crimes in the Village by offering psychological and educational support.
Just like the youth of 1976, West Village is rising above their circumstances,” said Trom.
They also do programmes such as creating awareness of gender-based violence.
“Everyone blames the government for the position they are in but we want to restore human dignity by informing people about the principles of Ubuntu,” said Trom, adding that they want to teach people to look after themselves and not wait for someone to make their situation better.
• Lees ook: Gebrek aan dienste in West Village – Gemeenskap het genoeg gehad
“We are at Cowboy Town because we were inspired by the owner. He made all of this [the Town] himself. People need to do things for themselves. Be self-reliant and less dependable.”
The organisation also travels to other communities and schools where they do basic training on the principles of Ubuntu. They want to partner with businesses and other organisations to keep on helping their and other communities.
You can check out their social media pages under the UNN Foundation or send them an email at info@UNNF.co.za or contact Nicolene on 071 521 7977, Steve on 063 124 7755 or Danny Mogotsi on 079 395 7723.
