Lesedi La Setjhaba serves its purpose to the community at large

Lesedi La Setjhaba Family and Community Centre recently donated blankets to various institutions and vulnerable individuals in the greater Alberton community.

Lesedi La Setjhaba (Light of the Nation) centre is an organisation that serves as justification for addressing the psycho-social needs of people, families, and communities in South Africa.

It offers individual counselling and works to improve and develop bonds between partners and families, all to sustain families.

The organisation’s offices are based in Palmridge Magistrate’s Court, however, was initially opened in Brackenhurst extension 2.

Founder and director of the organisation Puseletso Mokhosi-Matshaba said that as an entity they meet women who are struggling with poverty, who have had their children ejected from their homes, and who occasionally need things like clothing, food, and employment.

“We were fortunate enough to receive several blankets from Beryl Down and Brackenhurst Primary School, which we then handed to women currently on a journey of their inner healing programmes,” said Puseletso.

The organisation also aims to strengthen communities through empowering women and prioritising access to justice for victims of GBV.

According to the director, the objective of the access to justice project is to boost the number of women who seek out protection orders, receive interim protection orders and obtain final protection orders.

“The number of protection orders granted is very low because of barriers women face when they try to access justice. It is for this reason Lesedi La Setjhaba is intervening to eliminate challenges that discourage them by assisting them with filling in the domestic violence protection application forms,” Puseletso affirmed.

These challenges include a lack of proficiency in English, difficulty crafting witness statements that will be admissible in court, transportation costs, summonses that are not served promptly, families who discourage women from continuing with court proceedings, psychologically damaged victims who are unable to make better decisions, and victims who are financially dependent on their abuser.

One of the biggest sponsors of the organisation, Beryl Downs, told the Alberton Record that her late son Matthew Downs had a hard time accepting the possibility of human suffering.

The aforementioned statement serves as a reason why she helps individuals or organisations that are in dire need of basic resources.

“Matthew questioned God’s goodness for allowing people to suffer so much and urged me to give money to the homeless people at the traffic lights. I wish I could just have the conversation with him again today, as we had many, but I would have the right answer for him this time. The answer is that God uses people to extend His grace to those in need,” said Beryl.

Beryl said that they will continue handing out these blankets where they see the need to ensure that everyone is kept warm.

The entity strives to support women in all courts. It runs on volunteers, but due to a lack of funding, it only serves three magistrates’ courts: Palm Ridge, Booysens, and Alexandra.