SHE’S given up everything, aside from good coffee, to better the lives of a growing handful of Zululand’s poorest.
Mary Mlambo was born in Soweto. Her father worked on the railways, her mother was a domestic worker.
Three years ago she left the comfort of her upmarket job and Kempton Park home in Johannesburg to found Lungelo Youth Develepment Centre in Mzingazi Village.
Now she spends her days enriching the minds of Zululand’s youth, undoing the beliefs that they are useless, nobody and going nowhere, by encouraging them to think for themselves, to question and take initiative.
‘Don’t be afraid of what’s inside you. It might push you to the limit, but there’s a hero inside of all of us,’ she tells them.
‘Don’t look at your surroundings and think you’ll never be able. It might scare you, but you have to stand up and say ‘that’s not me’.’
Her slogan reads ‘Ryt2B’; reminding them they are capable of being anything.
Two 20-foot foldaway houses served as her first classrooms until a few months ago.
Now, the centre enjoys a new building with three classrooms on a small plot of land she purchased from the local induna. Construction of a set of ablution facilities is underway.
Mary lives in a small, one-bedroom house a short way down the gravel road.
During the week, 96 children between aged between six months to six years attend her daycare, along with 27 junior school-going pupils and 33 seniors.
With the help of six volunteers the school-going kids are helped with their homework, practice in choir, play games or just get together to play board games.
She admits simply taking them off the street and out of harm’s way is not enough to break the cycle of poverty, and requires a broader mindset born of realising there’s a whole world out there.
‘I want to build this generation, but I cannot force anyone, only motivate and encourage by exposing them to the world and opportunities and teaching them not to rely on what the world conditioned them to think,’ she said.
‘I want to enable them to do it by themselves. These children need role models.
‘If I can change five people’s lives before I die, I’ll be happy and hopefully its ripple effect will be my legacy.’
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