Old Queens boys source girls’ towels
The problem was that the girls didn’t have the pads and were missing class
Old Queenians are a proud, tough lot, who know how to put in a hard tackle, but this week the famous Komanibased boys’ school showed that it’s rugby-playing old boys have a soft heart.
On Wednesday night, the old boys, including former springbok player and Supersport rugby presenter Khaya Malotana spoke about how they sourced scores of sanitary pads for girls at Qwalasela Public School in Kwetyana outside East London.
The problem was that the girls did not have the pads and were missing class.
More than 200 packets of towels are headed the school’s way thanks to to the efforts of the old boys.
The pads were collected by the rugby-mad old boys, who organised a three-day rugby tournament to assist the disadvantaged children.
The six-a-side touch rugby tournament, held under the leadership of the East London branch of the old Queenians, raised enough cash to buy seven big boxes of pads filled with 50 packets each, said chairman of the branch Khaka Manjiya.
The tournament was organised at the Hamiltons Club sports grounds in Selborne on Wednesday night.
Manjiya said: “We decided at one of our meetings to do something as an act of social responsibility and after hearing news of ladies missing classes because of a lack of sanitary pads, we decided to do this initiative.”
The pads came from each team that registered to take part on the tournament including from its supporters.
“We compelled each team and their supporters to come with sanitary pads and a registration fee.
“A certain percentage of the proceeds raised here will buy more pads,” said Manjiya.
Malotana, an old boy from the Queens College class of 1994, was at the event to support the initiative. “I think it is very important that our children get the best chance of education and certainly if girls are disadvantaged by something that is natural, where we can lend a hand and help, certainly we want be doing that.”
Queen’s College headmaster Janse Van der Ryst, who drove from Komani to attend the event, said he was proud of the school's old boys’ union.
“The value of this is the positive message that goes out to the rest of the country.
“Whoever is listening will know Queen’s College is a positive brand and people want to associate with them.”
The tournament started on July 11 with eight teams where four were eliminated. Last Wednesday saw four teams battling it out, leaving the two winners, Kudu Krocks and Barbarians, to play in the final last night.
Organising committee member Mathabe Mlilo said they were aware that the only way to get a rugby player to bring a pad was to organise a game.
He said close to R10,000 had been raised through the R100 registration fee for each player.