IT IS ALL ABOUT INCLUSION FOR MASIVUKE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

 By: Zukhanye Qabe

Twitter: @JustZukhanye

Email: zukhanyeqabe11@gmail.com

A tragedy that happened Enyobeni Tarven that is based in Gompo (East London) reminded a lot of teenagers that they can still do better.

Masivuke Community Development that is a non-profit organisation, based at Gompo, specialise at advocating for human right.

Miss Phumeza Gwababa, who is the Executive Director, mentioned that the organisations mission is to improve the quality of life of vulnerable members of society.

Image: Facebook

She further explained that the numbers of students who are registered doubled up after the Enyobeni Tarven tragedy, where 21 teenagers died.

Masivuke was dominated by the elderly people and things took a turn, when more teenagers started attending the programmes offered by the organisation.

Monday to Friday the organisation offers classes where children and the youth can visit to do their schoolwork. Saturday classes are made for those who are interested into art and dancing. They have competitions for those who attended classes to compete for a prize. 

A video attached below is one of the performances for fund raising that they host each month.

The organisation has changed lives of residents from Gompo as it offers a safe space, that deals with people who have traumatic experiences.

Miss Pheliwe Tafeni who is a community member highlighted that attending the safe space with her 17-year-old son helped her understand a lot more about him. Miss Gwababa said that these safe spaces help a lot of teenagers from around to discover themselves.

Masivuke collaborates in most cases with the Buffalo City Municipality (BCM) when hosting events. “There are moments where we pay things from our own pockets because we did not get any sponsorship when hosting,’’ said miss Gwababa.

Miss Brian Giemit who was the winner for Miss Queer 2021 said that nothing felt good like being included. She also mentioned that being part of the LGBTQIA+ community is a struggle on its own because no one takes you seriously as people take it as a phase thing.

Masivuke will be hosting an event next month in August. The event will be hosted by the youth from Masivuke to give back to the community and help those who are unfortunate with groceries.