“Strive to make the poor rich, not in terms of money, but with happiness and love.”
This is the message that the 16-year-old Onthatile Mashaba, founder of Tsosanang Community Youth Program, wants to spread.
On Friday, 3 July, 25 members of the non-governmental organisation took to the streets of Mohlakeng to hand out bowls of food as well as clothes to the underprivileged, poor and hungry. “This was the second time we went to hand out food since the Covid-19 lockdown started. I started the soup kitchen when I did a school project on the community and I realised that I wanted to give back. We prepared warm meals for more than 200 people.”
Although the organisation’s goal is to feed people from their area, they are also taking a stand against gender-based violence and discrimination against the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community.
According to Pasela Ntotsho, spokesperson of Tsoganang Community Youth Programme, their main goal is to make sure that everyone in their community is clean, fed and has a smile on their face.
“We had trouble getting sponsors so most of the money for the food came out of our pockets; but everything is alright as long as we helped someone. We want to join hands with other organisations to help us with donations and to guide us through the process of registering our organisation as we are all still at school and this is a brand-new organisation.”