Happy feet for Aviwe after Junior steps up

07 March 2016 - 12:07 By Vuvu Vena

In the end‚ Selborne College pupil Junior Nxumalo stepped up and donated new shoes to Aviwe Zondani. They are both 16.Zodwa Maqoqa‚ a life orientation teacher at the Mdantsane’s Vulamazibuko High School‚ was doing physical orientation with her Grade 8 class when she noticed the state of Zondani’s shoes.She called him aside and asked about his living conditions. She discovered he lived with his grandmother and that his mother was unemployed.Maqoqa said she asked Zondani’s permission to take a picture of his shoes to post on Facebook and he agreed. The post even reached advocate Mthunzi Mhaga‚ national spokesperson for the Department of Correctional Services and Justice‚ and one of the drivers of the 1Million Shoes Campaign.Mhaga contacted Nxumalo‚ a campaign ambassador‚ and informed him of Zondani’s plight.Nxumalo‚ after seeing the work the 1Million Shoes Campaign was doing in Johannesburg earlier this year‚ asked the team if he could work with them from the Eastern Cape.When they agreed he roped in his friend and “right hand man” Siphosethu Nxafani and Selborne teacher Mark Doolan to help convince the whole of Grade 10 at the school to partner in collecting shoes for needy pupils in the city.“When we saw that Aviwe was from Mdantsane‚ we as a grade pushed to help him‚” Nxumalo said.Last Friday‚ together with Mhaga‚ they donated a pair of new school shoes and sport sneakers to Zondani‚ the first pupil they have assisted.Nxumalo said he has always lived by the words “there are a lot of nice people in the world‚ but if you can’t find one‚ then you become one”.He said they planned to donate many more shoes and called on residents and businesses to join the cause and donate.Together with Doolan‚ the grade has now offered to take students from Vulamazibuko to Selborne for tutoring and sports training‚ an initiative born out of assisting Zondani.Maqoqa said there had been an overwhelming response to Zondani’s need and she was now also starting a campaign: Help A Teacher Help A Child.Once needy schools have been identified‚ the first donations will come from the extra shoes and clothes that the school received for Zondani. – TMG Digital/Daily Dispatch..

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