Yesterday, after learning of an exceptional community upliftment initiative called The Kliptown Youth Programme (KYP) headed by 30 year old Thulani Madondo, the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) pledged R400 000 towards the programme. The project has been nominated as part of the annual CNN Heroes where ten “everyday heroes” around the world were nominated by CNN's global audience and profiled earlier this year on CNN.
Madondo co-founded the Kliptown Youth Programme after identifying the need to provide a means to inspire and change lives in the troubled Soweto community. Through education, KYP’s mission is to eradicate the poverty of mind, body, and soul and to fight against the disadvantages imposed on the children of Kliptown by providing educational support and after school activities.
“The NYDA is always on the look-out for initiatives that live out our “Limitless Youth” slogan and this initiative is the perfect description of what our Limitless Youth campaign is all about so we’ve decided to pledge R150 000 cash towards the Kliptown Youth Programme, R50 000 will go towards a special advertising campaign calling all South Africans and Africans to vote for Thulani, R200 000’s worth of services will be offered through NYDA training and development programmes.” NYDA CEO Steven Ngubeni said live on Metro FM yesterday.
The Limitless Youth initiative which is lived by over 6 000 NYDA Twitter followers was launched by the NYDA in April 2012 to encourage youth of South Africa to have a “Limitless” mind-set. According to Ngubeni, “The key messages that we are conveying to the youth of South Africa is that their potential far outweighs their limitations and that their current challenging circumstances do not have to define their future, but the onus is on them to get up every day and take hold of the opportunities that are offered to them by not only the NYDA, but organisations in the private, public and civil sectors”. The campaign supports all youth in their personal endeavours as well as projects that build their communities.
The ultimate CNN Hero of the Year is decided by a public vote and the NYDA is appealing to South Africans and Africans to vote for Madondo.
The ultimate winner will be honoured at a tribute show, hosted in Los Angeles where one of the top 10 will be named CNN Hero of the Year and receive an additional $250,000 to continue their work.
Voting closes on 28 November 2012, and members of the public can vote for our local Hero at www.cnnheroes.com or on the Facebook page. One can vote up to 10 votes per email address, per day.
To learn more about the Kliptown Youth Programme go to www.kliptownyouthprogram.org.za and to pledge funds and other resources towards this initiative, please contact Mr Thulani Madondo, Executive Director on 011 528 8670 and e-mail address is kliptownyouthprogram@gmail.com or thu_im@hotmail.com
Enquiries:
Sibongile Mqakayi
Tel: 011 506 7350
Cell: 083 465 9936
E-mail: sibongileM@jnpr.co.za
