He established Word On The Street, a substance and drug-free society movement, that aims to help people get their lives back on track. The organisation has been operating in Pretoria and Johannesburg and now he wants to also help the youth of Ba-Phalaborwa and surrounding areas by establishing a local facility. He has been helping locals and referring them to different facilities in the country, but he would love to build a centre in the area.

However, the lack of funding, infrastructure and resources, makes it hard for Selepe and his team to help the many people who are addicted to drugs. “I’m appealing to the community, businesses and government to assist us with funding, building materials, land or space, groceries, clothes.

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“The demand for our services is high, but most of the people we assist, don’t even have the money to buy food and clothing. “We believe that indeed ‘it takes a village to raise a child’,” explained Selepe. “We engage with the parents or guardians of the affected individual regarding what type of action they think would suit their child best.

“We also advise them on what we feel needs to happen depending on the type of drug, age, and other factors related to the patient which we must consider. “We go with parents and assist with transport to take their children to the various rehabilitation centres around the country,” he explained. For donations contact Itumeleng on 078 212 0113 and follow their page on Facebook, Word On The Street.