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Ms Suzan Ngonyama (back row, second from the left) was part of a five-person delegation that visited the Masedi Combined School in Tshikota last week to donate sanitary products to the girl students. Standing next to Suzan is the regional clerk of the court, Ms Paulina Mugagadeli, with the regional state prosecutor, Ms Hilke Janse van Rensburg (fifth from the left), court interpretor Mr Mpho Mpilo (kneeling in the front) and Magistrate PV Mudau. They were photographed with just a small portion of the girls who will benefit from their donation, and some of the school teachers.

 

Court tries to give back confidence to local girls

 

“You are dynamite – don’t you ever forget that.” These were the inspiring words of Ms Suzan Ngonyama, an intermediary official of the Louis Trichardt Magistrate’s Court. She was addressing young girls from the Masedi Combined School in Tshikota.

“Young girls are very important, and we are here to help to raise the confidence of these girls who will be the women of tomorrow,” continued Ngonyama. She was part of a five-person delegation who visited the school last week as part of the court’s “Bring Back the Confidence of a Girl Child” project. This project was the initiative of a few court officials who got all the employees at the local court to donate money for the project. They were moved when they learned that some of the girls had to skip school because they could not afford sanitary towels.

“Sometimes our girls are absent from school because they don’t have enough money to buy pads and they are embarrassed to come to school,” explained Ngonyama. Being from a disadvantaged background herself, Ngonyama empathised with the girls about their struggle. When she was growing up, girls were forced to use things like newspapers and rags instead of sanitary towels because of financial hardship. “We could not afford them and had to make other plans – that is why we are here to help you, so that you will not be embarrassed any more,  finish school and become a successful and professional young lady in a decent profession,” said Ngonyama.

With the R1 670 the court employees had raised, they managed to negotiate a partly donated and special deal for sanitary pads with Soutpansberg Spar. 

The court was able to buy 239 packets of pads that will be kept at the school, where the girls can get them as needed.

 

Date:26 August 2016

By: Isabel Venter

Isabel joined the Zoutpansberger and Limpopo Mirror in 2009 as a reporter. She holds a BA Degree in Communication Sciences from the University of South Africa. Her beat is mainly crime and court reporting.

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