Submitted by freenet on Wed, 26/01/2011 - 18:39
CHANNELS:
By Sydney Masinga
Musina - Six civil servants have decided to fork out R200 each from their own pockets every month to help child-headed families in Musina, Limpopo.
One of the civil servants, Ganja Manyuma, said he and his colleague Thabo Mokone first came up with the idea while waiting for their cars to be cleaned at a car wash last month.
"I told my friend that the amount of money we were spending on drinks and enjoying ourselves at the car wash could make a difference in the lives of destitute kids and child-headed families," he said.
"My friend bought into the idea and we met the following day to finalise the logistics," he said.
Other colleagues, all of whom work in the finance section of the Musina local municipality, also joined in. Now there are six of them: Manyuma, Mokone, Benny Tlou, Delcie Tshikota, Debbie Kotze and Abigail Khoza.
They've already handed food parcels to three child-headed families.
"We are very happy that the initiative is now paying off and we invite other community members, and not only municipal workers, to join us in uplifting the poor in our local communities," said Manyuma.
Mokone said it was rewarding to have a deeper connection with the community that went beyond being a municipal official.
"We also grew up poor and know what suffering is all about. We will continue to give back the little we have to our communities," Mokone said.
The group has also roped in local business people who help to supply food. Contributing businesses include Matshivha Holdings, OBC Chicken and John Mashiane of M4 Attorneys.
"We believe that their contribution will motivate other businesspeople to follow suit," said Tlou.
Some of the beneficiaries of the initiative include the Ndou family, who received food parcels in Nancefield on Saturday.
"We are seven children in the family and we are struggling to make ends meet. We are very grateful because we now know that there are people who care out there. We would like to thank the municipal workers for their kind hearts and wish them more life so that they can continue to assist indigent people like ourselves," said Johannes Ndou, 19, who heads their household after their parents died.
Spokesperson for the Musina local municipality, Wilson Dzebu, welcomed the initiative. "These kind-hearted municipal workers believe that public service goes beyond office work," he said. - BuaNews