3/2020
By Staff Reporter
Back2basics, a youth organisation is hoping to change the lives of the youth of Kimberley. The foundation has been using social media platforms to advocate against the high number of gender-based violence incidents in South Africa.
This year they decided to take it a step further by identifying hot spots or areas where there is a high traffic volume to take the message across. “It is the first time that we embarked on this type of campaign. We started campaigning as one group at St Boniface intersection in Corles Road; Tikkies stop in Royal Street, Pick ‘n Pay intersection and Phatshimang Robots. We did this daily from 25 to 31 August between 17:00 and 18:30,” said Fikile Ramutla, one of the founding members. A 20 year old, third year Logistics students from the University of North West, Mafikeng Campus.
Boitshedpo Dikodu, a nineteen-year-old Mechanical Engineer student from City Campus, said, “We are hoping to change people’s mindsets, through this campaign”.
Back2basics was registered in 2018. All members of the organisation are in their early twenties and are studying at tertiary institutions. The youth foundation has ten volunteers. Some of them participate on an adhoc basis like, twenty-year-old Tiro Mathe, an Intern who said, “I only assist when I have time to spare between my studies and work, it is a good feeling to give back to the community when we came from”.
In 2018, Back2Basics Youth Foundation collected clothes and arranged a Christmas Lunch at Sewendelaan, an informal settlement in Galeshewe, where the youth distributed them.
They also held a one-day Soup Kitchen during June and July 2019 in town at McDonald and Telkom’s open space.
Ramutla said they plan to host a gala dinner for the youth under the theme “Youth Excellence”. “The focus of the gathering will be to bring youth from various fields such as business and fine arts under one roof to share knowledge and collaborate,” added Ramutla.
The foundation plans to build a shelter for the homeless. Their long-term goal is to expand their wings and collaborate with the United Nations organisation.
Comments are closed.