The exciting Women’s Month programme by the Chair of Chairs, Cllr Colleen Makhubele, under the theme “Girls can do anything”, started with an early morning visit to Region C’s Tshepang Home for Orphaned and Vulnerable Children in Princess, Roodepoort, on Friday, 26 August 2022. She was accompanied by Section 79 chairs, Cllr Sarah Wissler, Cllr Nonhlanhla Sifumba and Cllr Carin van der Schyf.
The orphanage supports orphans and vulnerable children in the area under the leadership of Susan Rammekwa, the CEO and founder of Tshepang Home. It feeds over 300 children daily from disadvantaged families. Rammekwa helps them with homework and accessing grants according to their needs. It is for this reason Cllr Makhubele felt the need to go and appreciate its good community work.
The visit started with all chairs in the kitchen assisting with cooking a meal for the children. The visit ended with a handover of food parcels to the orphanage and the families of vulnerable children.
The programme continued when a team of young girls founded by Tshepang Home played against a team of young local boys. Both teams were addressed by former Bafana Bafana captain Aaron Mokoena and South African Football Association members who were invited to be part of the soccer clinic. The referee was SuperSport presenter Lwazi Ziqubu.
“It doesn’t matter where you are coming from to make you successful in life. I also come from humble beginnings but look where I am. Very important, we should not sideline the boy child as they can end up using nyaope and other drugs,” said Mokoena.
Everybody won the game. The idea was to showcase that girls can play soccer too. Indeed, girls can do anything.
“Today we are honouring and celebrating the spirit of women under the theme ‘Girls can do anything’. We are trying to encourage girls to break barriers and think beyond their limitations of their culture or background and look at different sports and careers in life,” said Cllr Makhubele.
The main event took place at Roodepoort City Hall where several guests addressed women and upcoming girls. Men and boys were urged to honour and support girls and women in their journey of life and not destroy or abuse them.
“It is time for women to stand up and say no if they see something wrong in their coach or leaders in a respectful manner though. Today, there are many doors of opportunities for girls that are willing to do things. Everybody has talent. You just need to find out what it is. History has also proven that the best coaches are made from home because they know the culture. As women in leadership, we need to leave a legacy behind by grooming our girls,” said Ria Ledwaba, the founder of Ria Stars and businesswoman.
Written by Thembelihle Radebe
29/08/2022