Man donates to two schools with an open heart

Self-employed Simon Mofulatsi (60) donated 200 pairs of school shoes to Padi Primary School in Buffelshoek and Loula Fourie Primary School in Wilgeboom on Tuesday. Both schools are particularly disadvantaged.
This was not the first time Simon had donated anything, however. He has been giving to the less fortunate since last year. He has already donated 700 pairs of shoes to six schools in total. He usually takes the money from his own pocket but, after noticing his good deeds, Superspar on The Bult decided to help and contributed 200 pairs.
Mofulatsi says he knows exactly how it feels to grow up disadvantaged. Being the eldest of eight siblings, he had to find a way to make a living. At the tender age of 10, he started working on a farm where he earned only 50 cents a day. To this day, Mofulatsi believes that working with money at such a young age taught him to manage his money as an adult.
“I don’t have a matric certificate, but I took it upon myself to ensure that all my siblings went to school and graduated.”
The kindness never stopped there, however. Ever since then, he has helped those in and around his community, specifically school children.
“Children are my favourite people. I get a warm feeling whenever I can help them in any way because I remember when I, myself, was a child,” he said.
“I used to use plastic bottles and sometimes didn’t even have shoes. It breaks my heart that some children still struggle the way I did many years later,” he said sadly.
Two children from Loula Fourie Primary School particularly stood out for Mofulatsi. A Gr. 2 girl was wearing sandals in the extremely cold weather and a Gr. 4 boy had torn takkies. Mofulatsi wasted no time in driving them to town and buying them each a brand new uniform.