Community Champions

Olwethu Xhinti is a passionate young man born in the Eastern Cape at Engcobo, he currently lives at Lotus Park. He is a die-hard Kaizer Chiefs fan, with a membership card to show for it. In February 2015, when he saw many youth wondering the streets with nothing to do, he started a netball team in his community. The team has won eight tournaments and six trophies. The success is a result of their dedication to training; which takes place every weekday including most weekends. The team is made up of youth from the age of 13 years upwards, and practice on the sports court next to the Neighbourhood Centre. Olwethu has become a role model for the youth and he is currently working on having a Netball Master’s tournament for women of age 30 years and above. His drive is inspired by the motto, “driven to excel”.

Gladys Ntshota is originally from Qoboqobo in the Eastern Cape, she currently lives in Lotus Park. She stated working for VPUU as a Numbering fieldworker and a month later she became a Community Register volunteer. She is a champion because she creates change through community administration, her guiding motto is “lend a helping hand”. Gladys surveys the community to identify the needs that they require from VPUU and other organisations. She is proud of herself because she has learnt communication skills among others and has had the opportunity to have new experiences.

Maritza is a wife and a mother that is driven and very active wherever she is needed, her humility and personality easily attracts people. Not only is she involved in the community of Villiersdorp but she is also part of VPUU, the Breast Cancer Association, Restoration Community Centre, Proud2beMe and Woman4Change.  She is very helpful in her community.

Cynthia is a mother, grandmother and above all she is a real pillar with a warm and loving heart. She drives 10km every morning and evening to help those who dropped out of school to further their education and training. She is the Centre Manager at Villiersdorp Community Learning Centre and assists the young and old to get their NQF3 and NQF4. Cynthia is well known for her computer skills since her days of teaching at Kosie de Wet Primary. Her involvement in Proud2beMe encouraged many young mothers to participate.

Werner Welmans is driven and passionate about the Villiersdorp community. He is a member of VPUU Safe Node Area Committee, Restoration Community Centre, Inter Governmental Steering Community and Building Bridges Nationwide. He is greatly involved in his community; he likes to help his community members.

Leon Jacobus started as a volunteer at Villiersdorp CLC (Abet), teaching Family Literacy and he later completed his NQF 5 in Adult Education and Training Practitioner. He participated in the Household Survey, Business Survey and ECD Survey at VPUU in Villiersdorp. He is a respected and helpful member of the community.

Mr Hermanus Visagie is one of the elderly members at Israellaatreën Church in Villiersdorp, yet he is young in spirit.  He believes in the soft, gentle and loving approach to change people’s lives. Mr Visagie takes part in Agri Training and is set up for computer Training, he believes that no matter how old a person is, it is never too late for them to learn.  He participates in Outreach Programmes as well as all community related life-changing programmes. He and his wife provide food to the elderly twice a week in the local community without any financial assistance.

Sindiswa is the secretary of Fairland Neighbourhood Watch (NHW) part of the Alcohol Harms Reduction and Afterschool Game Changers. She receives and records all community complaints that are brought to the NHW and reports them to the SAPS. She assists her team members in all administration and using technology. Sindiswa is passionate about her community and sees herself growing from the skills opportunities that she receives from the programme.

Janap is a 44 year old, unemployed, mother of five. She is a community leader who represents the Hill View 1 Camp on the Safe Node Area Committee. She wakes up with the sparrows every morning of the week to attend to her children and to spend her days assisting her community. She describes her role as the link between her community and the City of Cape Town. She attends to issues brought to her attention by her fellow community members and accompanies the City of Cape Town officials as they repair damaged taps and pipes in the area. She also works with representatives from neighbouring camps when the greater area is being addressed or attended to. Janap also runs a community netball team which was a beneficiary of the VPUU Social Development Fund (SDF) in 2015. The SDF has allowed Janap to equip her netball players with uniforms, equipment, and transport which allows them to attend matches beyond The Heights. Janap is proud of her players and believes the youth in her community hold great potential which often gets supressed by the social ills which linger in the area. Her netball practices and matches provide young girls of The Heights with a healthy activity which may deter them from risky behaviour, as they learn the importance of team commitment, staying fit and healthy and striving for a goal and purpose. Janap says that VPUU has changed her life by providing her with support as she tries to support her community. She feels that VPUU provides her community with hope and a clear vision in moving forward.

This is Mandy Arendse.   Mandy is on a 6-month EPWP contract with the Drakenstein Municipality which ends at the end of March. Mandy led the team of 6 fellow EPWP workers who undertook the household surveys in the alcohol harms reduction focus area in Paarl East. Her team completed 94% of the scheduled interviews despite the heat, the walking from target house to target house, hostility and even threats, and having at times to fit in other EPWP duties.  Mandy herself arranged her own lift to be at the meeting place every day, on time.   She managed to make additional copies of record forms, keep all records in order and on her own initiative make a clean combined copy.   She collected, checked, and charged the cellphones used in the survey each day.  She found a way to upload data each day and made sure that any errors picked up were corrected the next day.   Every evening she was on time to collect the day’s records and deal with concerns that arose.  To get the work done, Mandy arranged for her husband to take some team members home when they worked late. When the time came to collect the equipment, Mandy had arranged for the branded bibs to be laundered before handing them back to me. Throughout, Mandy responded to messages and enquiries quickly and accurately.

Mandy used to work in IT communications sales before being made redundant and is a whiz at explaining cell-phone based data collection and troubleshooting in the field.  This is true professionalism and ‘beyond expectations’ level of working, says Chris Giles

There is more to Mandy than this.  Together with her husband and their extended family, they run an addiction rehabilitation center, taking in both paying and no-fee young male addicts from the community. When well enough, these young men assist them in running a catering business. Imagine if we had plenty more Mandy’s. What transformation we could achieve in our country!