By: Dj Schoolbag

On Mandela Day, ACTIVATE! was invited to accompany Pride Factor and the Abcon Group Foundation to Hawk Academy combined school in the Primrose, Ekurhuleni, where I come from. And I had the honour of accompanying Kay-Dee to the event.

Hawk Academy was founded in 2016 by husband and wife Directors Sipho Mkhonto and Agnes Mkhonto after they saw a need in the community where they have a church, named ‘Door of Hope Family Church’.  “Most of the learners come from the surrounding informal settlements. We aim to give them the best education and hope to get results this year,” Ms Anges said. To date, the school has about 950 learners between Grade R and Grade 9.

Throughout the Hawk Academy journey, they have partnered with various companies such as Abland, among others. Within Abland, there is a non-profit organization called Abcon Group Foundation – who were the main hosts of the Mandela Day event in partnership with Pride Factor. 

Pride Factor SA is a life skills academy dedicated to improving the quality of young people’s lives by inspiring, guiding and mentoring them to challenge their assumptions, broaden their aspirations and develop entrepreneurial thinking. The Academy consists of many inspirational young people, one of which is  Pride Factor ambassador Emily Mabasa, who formed part of the pool of speakers.

Emily’s story inspired me a lot, what I took away were the words, “Believe in your dreams and don’t give up because those kids need you more than you know”. To be really honest I was at a stage where I almost gave up on the Donate a Schoolbag Campaign, but after the visit, I saw that a lot of learners still need our assistance. Seeing the faces of the learners as they received everything, from food to the library that Abcon donated, reminded me of the many things that we take for granted every day while other people long for these things. 

After the event, I decided to relaunch the campaign to start by helping Hawk Academy in Primrose, Ekurhuleni to raise schoolbags, sanitary towels, roll on, stationary for the learners. I have been reminded that the simple content of “Donate a School Bag” has the power to transform a child’s life – the very school bag you donate could help to create future Doctors, Politicians, Humanitarian, Chartered Accountant and more.

A few examples of the content of our school bag:

• Calculator and a notepad
• Pens and Pencils, colored pencils, crayons and markers
• School Shoes
• Small Gifts (Sweets, toys etc.)
• School Uniform and Shoes
• Sanitary Pads
• Old and New Clothes

To be part of the Donate A Schoolbag Drive contact Dj Schoolbag at 0613770745, on Facebook or via email at ndasbcampaign@gmail.com.