Organisation honours the youth through education

During Youth Month, The Love Trust honours not only the youth’s contributions to the struggle for South Africa’s independence, but also their accomplishments and their legacy.
The Love Trust is a South African NPO that was founded in 2009 to nurture future generations of servant leaders by providing outstanding education and social care to vulnerable children, including academic brilliance, spiritual strength, and moral purity.
One school in Thembisa is lighting the flame in the hearts and minds of its learners and parents.
The Love Trust’s Nokuphila Pre-Primary and Primary School serves the poorest members of the community by providing a quality education that includes psychosocial care for learners.
The school is committed to providing learners with all of the necessary academic, environmental, emotional, physical, nutritional, and mental support as they begin the next step of their academic journey, high school.
The management team at Nokuphila assists learners in applying for scholarships to prominent secondary schools.
One of their graduates who were offered a bursary to one of the country’s most prominent high schools, St John’s College, shares his story to empower the youth of ekasi.
Mpho Kekana is a Grade Nine learner who enjoys biology, math, English, and history, as well as participating in sports like basketball and hockey. After school, he also likes to participate in boxing sessions.
Kekana is a clever, intelligent, and well-mannered young learner who has surmounted many obstacles on his way to one day becoming a paediatrician, and St John’s College is one of his stepping stones.
When asked what he thought was the most difficult issue he faced, he said the numerous distractions along the path and the false friends were the most difficult to deal with.
He found it difficult to tell the difference between good friends who simply wanted the best for him and were supportive at difficult times and bad friends who seemed to vanish when things became challenging.
Mpho’s teachers at Nokuphila noticed that he was struggling and offered their counsel on how to choose the right types of friends, which also helped him regain his focus and drive.
He says the experience has given him the will be to be strong, independent, and to stay focused.
“Until I reach my goal, I have to keep working hard to make a difference in my life.”
Mpho is still friends with a number of his former Nokuphila classmates and has also grown his group of friends since starting at St John’s, which he says was a scary experience in the beginning.
“Firstly,” says Mpho, “no one knew me and the maths was kind of hard. The school traditions were something to get used to. There’s a lawn that only matric learners can walk on.
“It left a lasting impression. We were terrified,” Mpho recalls, “and we were happy because it gave us some attention.”
Mpho’s favourite thing about St John’s is the war cries they chant during sports events at school.
With the pressure to keep up a good academic average, Mpho still faces quite a few challenges. But he has found a healthy and productive way to channel his stress.
“I used to make music. Anytime I need a song I’d name it after what I’m going through. And every time I listen to it, it kind of relaxes me.”
The school lent him a laptop and a friend showed him how to use a software programme to create music.
When asked what words of advice he has for other learners: “Everyone has challenges. But we need to let go of something to gain something.”