Yonela on a roll
EAST London’s gloomy weather did not stop the ladies and a few gentlemen from taking part in the Queens race recently at the Jan Smuts athletics stadium.
The race, organised by a finalist in the Mrs Africa 2017, Yonela Jindela, was held to help raise funds for washable sanitary towels for school girls in the rural areas of the Eastern Cape.
Jindela said she had identified two schools that she would be working with in Port St Johns. The schools she has chosen for her project still use the old mud structures for classrooms.
“In identifying the two schools, Mbabalana Junior Primary School and Dedeni Junior Primary School, I saw a need as many young girls in the rural areas cannot afford to buy sanitary towels every month.
“And it is sad [to see] how they lose out on school because they do not attend classes as they fear being embarrassed at school,” she said.
Jindela’s giving spirit does not end there; she is also currently running a breakfast drive with Babalwa Mbuku, founder of MIA
Eastern Cape, a local sanitary towel brand that focuses on donations to schools around the Eastern Cape. They assist among them, Sinomonde Public School in Orange Grove with porridge meals. “It came to our attention that there are children who go to school on empty stomachs.
“Some of them even collapse at school because they are hungry. We then went around asking our friends and families to donate packets of porridge to the school. So far we have made about four deliveries since this initiative started in May this year,” Jindela said.
To vote for Jindela in the Mrs Africa 2017 pageant in the North West on November 4, SMS MRS 12 to 47018. Each SMS cost R2.
“I would like to wish all women and girls a happy Women’s Month. Let us all use this month to uplift other women. These days we see more and more women defaming other women’s characters publicly and it is so sad to see other women laughing about it, others even sharing it on social media. Let us all stand together in defence of other women,” Jindela said.