Author: CCC Team

Ingiphile Emanuel Education (IEE) Foundation VISITED Lion Park Primary school on 7 June and provided much needed sanitary pads to more than one hundred pupils.

Students and teachers attended the event alongside motivational speakers and other stakeholders.

In an interview, IEE Foundation co-founder Lutendo Emanuel Simethi said most of the students are from poor backgrounds and their parents cannot afford to buy pads for their children.

“Teachers were now assisting to buy sanitary towels to their pupils,” Simethi said. “It is very important for a girl child to be supported with proper sanitation. That is why we decided to chip in and assist the school. We help them so that they go to school every time even during their menstruation days.”

Out of their love for education, Lutendo Emanuel Simethi and Penelope Nkosi founded IEE Foundation in early 2019. The foundation caters for the less privileged learners and also works with public schools to promote health though proper sanitation. They also offer motivational speaking and Life coaching to the learners. 

“Mothers have the ability to raise a nation,” said Mrs. Tammy Taylor South Africa semi-finalist Nteseng Chuene on 12 May at the informal settlement of Malatje in Lanseria. South Africa celebrates this powerful influence of mothers each year on Mother’s Day. “But most of the mothers in Malatje have no idea of Mother’s Day,” she said.

Chuene partnered with Ngizweni Initiative Program to celebrate Mother’s Day with the informal settlement women to encourage them to love their children and continue raising them well.

“We wanted to show mothers that they have the ability to raise a nation,” Chuene said, “and give us all a brighter future.”

Chuene said that the Malatje women who understood the meaning of Mother’s Day had never celebrated it before due to their poverty.

It is important to show love to all mothers whether or not the mother is your biological parent, Chuene said.

“I grew up in a community where we were not just raised by our parents but by the community at large,” Chuene said. “We were taught to respect, show love to and treat every elder person in the street with ubuntu. Older people had the right to correct you and if you rebelled, they would report you to your parents.”

Malatje residents said they were happy to be included in the celebrations.

“The mothers who came were so touched by the generosity and we are very thankful for the successful event,” said Lerato.

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She added that women were inspired to realise that it is possible to achieve anything in life, no matter where you come from.

“We have realised that we as mothers we should appreciate our children, listen to them and encourage them to do well in life” she said. “The roses we received on May 12 mean a lot to us because we cannot afford them.”