Local community group spins and donates to honour the youth

Over a thousand residents showed up to support the Pheli Spinners charity “chillas” event this past Youth Day.

Formed in 2014, Pheli Spinners is made up of a group of guys from Atteridgeville who have the same passion for motorsport called spinning and also giving back to the community.

Locals flocked to Atteridgeville’s “Ko Dishopong” to watch the customized works of motoring art burn rubber while performing. The event entered its second year running this past June 16.

“We aim to inspire the youth and make a difference in our community,” says the chairperson of Pheli Spinners, Bongani Raphela.

“The youth day charity spin chillas was a way of commemorating the youth that took part in the 1976 Soweto uprising.”

“As a group, we decided to host a charity event that will inspire our current youth to take part in it and encourage them to stay away from crime and drugs. We want to show them that they can do good or positive things in their society.”

Raphela says that the youth of today are far too focused on substance abuse rather than their futures. He believes that finding meaningful ways for the youth to spend time is an alternative to the excess problems he believes are affecting too many young South Africans.

“Drugs and alcohol are the new pandemics, not only in Atteridgeville but across the country. It saddens me to see a lot of young people throwing their lives away like that with no care in the world.

The current youth needs to take part in lots of activities like sports, uplifting the community by participating in charity events and most importantly going to school and getting that education instead of partying and taking alcohol and drugs,” Raphela says.

Since the start of the year, the group has been involved in multiple initiatives partnering with NGOs, NPOs and other organisations to donate uniforms to local learners.

The spinners also donated water to the Hammanskraal community in light of the cholera outbreak.

Their tendency to donate was also evident after the chillas as they donated uniforms to a local school and groceries to a local home post-Youth Day.

“We managed to donate 50 pairs of school shoes and school shirts to Mahlahle primary school. We also donated groceries and clothes to Halaletseng safety home and four identified families in our community and this was done from June 15 to 18,” Raphela states.

The spinners have an upcoming pad drive on August 6, in honour of Women’s Month, that they are looking forward to as well as another charity event in December where new clothes and fireworks will be donated to one of the youth centres in Tshwane.

The spinners thanked Cdtt Galz, Blackside automotive customs, 0264 Stance Maniac, Park-Off Projects, Pheli Muslim Shura, and all car lovers and friends for their support.

Raphela says that he hopes the youth will know and understand that they are our future leaders and that they have a lot of potential to become anything they put their minds to.

“I’ll quote Barack Obama when he said ‘focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a certain poverty of ambition. It asks too little of yourself. Because it’s only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realise your true potential,’” Raphela concluded.

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