We know our Flowstars, but do you ever wonder what gets their mental cogwheels turning day in and day out? For 25-year-old Mkhuseli Vangile, an account executive in our PR studio, it’s the work he does with the Izanokhanyo Community Based Project in Kliptown, Soweto.
Mkhuseli, or MK as most of us refer to him, has been involved in several community-building initiatives across Gauteng. His most recent volunteer project is Izanokhanyo, meaning “bring light”, which he’s been working with for three years now.
Not one to boast about himself, MK’s involvement in the project only came to our attention when he sent a note to Flow head of PR, Caroline Smith, thanking her for her efforts in assisting him with Izanokhanyo’s Mandela Day 2016 food parcel campaign. Izanokhanyo had distributed food parcels to those in need – many of them child-headed households – in the Kliptown community.
This is something MK is passionate about and he believes that many companies need to have a holistic approach to helping children in these situations.
“Organisations misunderstand how life is in informal settlements,” he says. “People are hungry, people are struggling; so when you speak to companies about such feeding campaigns they don’t feel like it’s making a difference in people’s lives. They don’t see the value in it. They prefer to find one intelligent child and give them a bursary,” he explains.
While he completely supports education initiatives in communities, MK believes that companies can help so many more children by supporting organisations such as Izanokhanyo.
“Organisations like these are the heart of education in informal settlements because they play the role of the parent to these kids. They are the heart of keeping society operational; they groom these kids,” he says.
His work began while he was finishing his Diploma in Public Relations and Communications at the University of Johannesburg. “I wanted to adopt the entire informal settlement of Kliptown and I came across the story of Helen Masupa who started Izanokhanyo. She was a professional nurse who gave up her nursing career and decided to give back to the community,” says MK.
“Looking at this woman who spent eight to nine hours daily just giving to her community – her heart was so brave and so strong. That sacrifice was on another level to me and I thought I should get involved,” says MK of what marked the beginning of his journey with the organisation.
It’s been a tough ride and it’s mainly been Helen, MK and a few local volunteers keeping the work going because it is a rough neighbourhood. MK is happy that the centre has just begun to generate a bit of income, but it’s barely enough to keep things running.
He says in a good year the centre runs a campaign to gather school uniforms, jerseys, money to buy shoes and other school necessities. However, sponsors have been scarce of late.
MK was drawn to Kliptown because there are predominantly child-headed households or many kids living in a tiny shack with just one adult.
“When you have such situations, kids are neglected. They don’t get that parenting love. So when we have money we cook for them before school, so they have breakfast. Those of crèche-going age stay at Izanokhanyo. After school the children come back to find food at the centre, they do their homework with assistance from volunteers,” MK says.
The centre also offers activities such as arts, crafts, performing arts, and keeps the children safe and off the streets until those who have parents are fetched. The children who are left, usually from child-headed households, get to take a loaf of bread home to feed their families.
“There used to be food sponsors every month. But recently there have been no sponsorships, so the kids come to the centre for activities and get a loaf of bread to take with them – just to avoid them going to bed without eating anything,” MK says.
The long-term goal is to make the Izanokhanyo centre self-sustainable so that it can generate income to fund the costs of feeding the children before and after school.
MK is in the process of having big solar pots donated to the centre. These pots will be hired out at events, generating an income to help sustain the centre and its activities. The plan is to invest some of these proceeds into more catering equipment that will again be hired out for local events and continue to generate an income.
MK hopes to get this project up and running by next year so he can move on to assisting similar centres in other communities.
In addition to his work with Izanokhanyo, MK also assists youngsters from his home town on the East Rand with their tertiary applications as most, if not all of them, don’t have access to the internet.
“I mentor the entire process of them getting from high school to tertiary level. I fill out forms, send them, encourage them to send them, I keep track of the process, tell them who to call.”
He even offers assistance in the job-hunting process. “I prep them in correctly writing their CVs for their specific job market. We strategise on how to approach job-hunting. Job-hunting is like a project – you need to have objectives and then results,” he says.
So how does he manage to fit all of this into his day? “I work on this project at night. My days are Flow, I wake up and think Flow. After my work day, I have some me time. And then wake up at midnight to start on Flow stuff and my volunteer work.”
However, it does depend on how he’s doing at work. “I have to prioritise Flow. When I’m on top of things at Flow then I do my volunteer work. I’ve found balance. I don’t do a lot of stuff, I don’t party. But instead I put that energy and time into my volunteer work,” says MK.
For MK this aspect of his life will never change, it’s a part of who he is. He describes it as not a passion but something he feels compelled to do.
“How do I enjoy life without helping someone to get through. Especially because I understand how it feels to be hungry, to not have anything, and still have no plan, no food, no money, no one to ask for assistance. But I’ve had people helping me up until a point where I’m standing on my own,” he says, expressing his gratitude.
“If I were to attempt to just eat my money alone and act like I don’t know what’s going on, I don’t know what that would make me. So the aim is to make a lot of money and make a lot of difference!”