St John’s Prep pupil named Gauteng Hero
HOUGHTON - St John's Preparatory School pupil Jordan van der Walt is the winner of the Lead SA campaign in Gauteng.
The campaign encourages people to make a difference in the lives of their communities.
Van der Walt, together with other winners from KwaZulu-Natal and Western Cape, will attend the Lead SA Third Anniversary celebrations in Cape Town on 21 August, where one of them will be crowned National Hero of the Year.
The winner will receive R150 000 for a charity of their choice, courtesy of the Dis-Chem Foundation. The two runners-up will each receive R50 000 for their chosen initiatives.
Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu will deliver the keynote address at the Lead SA celebrations next week.
Van der Walt single-handedly demonstrated that even the very young can make a huge difference in the lives of others.
He was so moved by a documentary he saw a few years ago about South African children who go to school hungry each day, that he started the “Just One Bag” campaign, where he asked his schoolmates to bring one bag of maize meal to school.
“I just thought that kids might prefer something more nutritious so that when they went home, they wouldn’t get hungry,” he said.
The “Just One Bag” campaign has been very successful and has collected over 100 tonnes of maize meal, feeding over one million children. Over 50 schools have taken part in the campaign and more than 50 000 children have brought a bag of maize meal to school.
A finalist from KwaZulu-Natal, Dr Julia Ambler is a paediatric palliative care specialist, who, through her organisation, Umduduzi (meaning “the comforter”), cares for terminally ill children, ensuring they spend their last days pain-free and surrounded by family.
Western Cape finalist Ashra Norton is considered a superwoman in the gangster-ridden community of Manenberg, Cape Town. Norton opened a free independent educational institution for underprivileged learners called The Leadership College in 2010. The school accommodates learners between Grades 8 and 12 and currently has 220 pupils.
Pupils at the institution receive everything free: school uniforms, stationery, school bags, tracksuits and a meal. The school is funded in part by a state subsidy (which contributes 40% to its needs) and the rest by donations and contributions from private businesses and individuals.
The public was asked to nominate groups and individuals who were making a difference in their communities.
Details: www.leadsa.co.za
