Mzansi modelling agency showing style

When Ms Frieda Manana started her Mzansi Modelling Agency in 2015 at Vosman, she had a vision and her vision was to gather all the young girls and boys out of the streets into one place and get them to do something positive. She has managed to do only a small fraction of her dream because she faced many challenges.

She has hosted beauty pageants in the past as well as street parades and fashion shows. On Saturday, December 12 she hosted a fashion show for both boys and girls. Even Mrs Wandile Litheko, the current Mrs Mpumalanga 2020 second runner-up visited the children during the show to give them support and encouragement.

What she cares for is the welfare of teenagers in her area, and she has been taking care of them for the past five years without any support.

“Education is the key to success; I want these children to have an aim and dreams while growing. We gather at my place every day and I teach them life skills, modelling, help them with their homework, one on one sessions, and we talk about current issues. We debate issues in team talks, and we get close and personal with each other. I open up to them, and they also open up to me. Teenage pregnancy, drugs and alcohol abuse are major problems in our city and all over the country. If we do not guide them and channel them in the right path, they will go astray,” explains Ms Manana.

The children are taught discipline and respect. They meet every day at her place after school. She is faced with some challenges since she does not have a place of her own.

Her dream is to have a place of her own and get sponsors for the children. She says her ward councillors are aware of her plight as they sometimes had to practice outside her place on rainy days. Presently there are more than 60 children in her stable; the youngest child is six years old while the oldest is 21-years-old. Sometimes the children had to come in groups because there are so many.