New foundation aims to uplift, develop community
Sport among areas of focus
The MV Duda Foundation was officially launched at the Shilo Community Hall on Thursday, giving birth to the vision of Madoda Vernon Duda of ploughing back to the community through an organisation that will assist with humanitarian services and community development.
The foundation’s chair and executive director Ayanda Duda said in August 2020, their father came up with an idea of forming an organisation because he wanted to plough back in a more organised way.
“We have decided to introduce the foundation to the stakeholders such as the department of education (DoE), department of health (DoH) and department of sport, recreation, arts & culture (DSRAC).
“The foundation is planning to focus on sport as well because MV Duda was a big fan of sport.
“What we are looking at around here is to organise sporting activities and fun runs
as well as focusing on education to make sure that school keep children busy,” he said.
He said they also invited the SA Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu) with the intention of making them aware of their intentions so that they can know when the foundation plans to visit schools with the aim of assisting in sport in the Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality.
“Our aim is to not only giving back to the society through our programmes locally but in the Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality at large and beyond that when we are ready to do so,” he said.
Since the foundation is new, they said they would start by making an impact locally before reaching out to other parts of the municipality and province.
Asked about the reason they chose to focus on DoE, DoH and DSRAC, Duda said: “These are the three departments that are in the spotlight locally where there are some challenges.
“When you see a gap where you can chip in and assist, you should do so.
“For example, if we are looking at sport, we get so worried when we see wasted talent so we have a vision to assist in grooming talent and providing guidance in terms of nurturing that talent.”
Duda said this foundation would also work hand-in-hand with local and community structures to establish solutions and organise activities that will assist children.
“We will not work alone but with structures in communities,” Duda added.
Duda said one of the reasons they decided to introduce the foundation was to create a culture of helping each other.
“There’s a tendency of doing things alone that we want to eradicate. That is why we invited the structures so we can talk and learn how we can work together and create good relations that will benefit the communities,” Duda said.