Enabling Activator Motsatsi to continue #PayingItForward

 

By: Baxolise Dlali

Motsatsi Mola is a 2013 Activator from Enable Village, located in the outskirts of Tzaneen in Limpopo. She is a youth and community activist who wants to bring opportunities to her village, particularly for the young people in her village. At first glance, you would not understand what fuels her restless and hungry passion for development until you spend time with her.

After completing her Grade 12, she was almost faced with a bleak future due to the lack of opportunities afforded to the youth in villages. What made it worse is the fact that she could not even apply for university entrance because all or most applications processes were only done online. Coming from a village with no internet connectivity, or other opportunities for youth, she started volunteering and that is when she fell in love with community work. She mentions that ACTIVATE! changed her life for the better when she got accepted to be part of the programme in 2013.

When we handed over her station’s equipment and officially declared her station launched, she was moved to tears, the proverbial tears of joy. During our post-launch engagement, I enquired about the emotional state she was in during the launch she said two seemingly simple, yet far-reaching and profound statements.

One, she mentions that the opportunities she was denied after matric of not being able to apply for opportunities and university, that is what her station was going to focus on the most. In essence, her station will become to the youth and larger community the bridge she needed most yet never had. It dawned on me how we can sometimes take the small things for granted, yet they mean (and are) the world, literally, to other people.

Secondly, she says that every time, without exception, ACTIVATE! visits them in their communities and see how they live, hope becomes personified and they, in turn, are encouraged and re-energised to go on as it gets really difficult at times – to a point where they even think of quitting.

This story for me is so relevant because, when you interact with her without understanding, you may think that she borders on being impatient or disorderly when in fact she carries the weight of her village on her shoulders. She does not seem like she will rest until her village is an opportunity hub. And the Enable Station will enable her to start a journey towards achieving that!

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