Goodman and his band of lost boys

Can you believe the traffic lights do not work? The licencing department is not open? Potholes this – mall parking that; rude tellers here – 20 minutes of no electricity there.

There are a lot of things we complain about in our daily lives, but every so often we meet someone who’s sheer will to live positively in the face of all opposition makes us ashamed of our petty concerns.

Goodman Manqele from Shaka’s Head is one such person.

With virtually nothing to his name, more than a little personal trauma and working full time, Manqele still finds room in his heart to help the children of his community.

Manqele is the founder of Gxoba Isitibuli Academy – loosely translated as ‘put your foot to the pedal,’ a small BMX and sporting academy aimed at getting kids active, keeping them off the streets and providing a safe place for them to enjoy the afternoons.

“In 2005 I had a vision of opening a small place where kids could go and enjoy some BMXing where their parents know they are safe.

“Shaka’s Head can be a very dangerous place for children, with serious sexual abuse, crime, drugs and all sorts of bad influences,” said Manqele.

After a decade of effort, he finally managed to build a small ‘course’ in 2015 and have Gxoba Isitibuli Academy registered as an NPO. All this while working a day job and dealing with traumatic upheavals in his personal life.

“I was raised by my mother and stepfather – in 2012 I finally found my biological dad but he died soon after. Last year my sister passed away and now I am raising her four children because there was nobody else to take care of them.”

They live with his grandmother in a tiny building.

He stores the few bicycles and kit he has managed to collect for the academy in the same room where he sleeps.

His never-say-die attitude is evidenced by the fact that he had to drop out of school five times due to financial and family troubles but in the end fought his way through to a matric certificate in 2009.

Manqele’s academy is made up of a little earth bowl in Shaka’s Head where he has used old TV’s to build a retaining wall and had cement poured inside to create a surface for BMXing and skateboarding – the cement has since cracked and been washed away but that has not stopped him from keeping up the effort.

Locals have even spotted him rooting through scrap metal looking for items he can use to repair the bicycles.

“I would like to eventually get to the point where our children can start taking part in events as Gxoba Isitibuli Academy.”

The academy is open to all children, including the disabled, because, as he says, everyone deserves to enjoy some time outside in the sun with friends.

A recent donation from the Umhlanga Round Table made a small difference when – with the donation from a Swiss cycling club – they were able to provide more than 30 cycling kits with winter jackets and windbreakers.

However, Manqele and the academy’s needs are still a long way from being met.

They desperately need clothes, shoes, old school uniforms and the like for the day to day needs of the children.

He is also appealing for old bicycles, tools to fix them, a first aid kit, helmets, skateboards and – hopefully – a container where he can store all these items.

If you would like to help Gxoba Isitibuli Academy in its mission of hope for the children of Shaka’s Head, call Goodman Manqele at 073 423 0605.

“I am fighting against the things that are killing our community – I will never give up on the children!”

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