Thirteen-year-old Jordan van der Walt from Gauteng announced as first national hero at Lead SA anniversary
Lead SA celebrated its third year anniversary on Wednesday at the Clock Tower in Cape Town. Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu was the keynote speaker.
The civil society organisation is an initiative between Primedia Broadcasting and the Independent Group of Newspapers and was founded in August 2010.
“It is extraordinary to think that Lead SA is celebrating its third birthday anniversary this month, just 247 days shy of our nation celebrating 20 years of freedom,” said Lead SA’s Terry Volkwyn.
“When we launched Lead SA in 2010, our aim was to ignite the spirit of our nation and ultimately get citizens to play their role in achieving a better South Africa for all,” said Volkwyn.
Today, Lead SA has been involved in over 50 projects that cover their main focus areas including Education, Road Safety and the Environment.
One of the projects embarked on by Lead SA is the Bill of Responsibilities which is included in the Life Orientation curriculum at schools and teaches learners about their rights as well as the responsibilities which should be attributed to each right.
Other initiatives by the organisation include the Stop Rape campaign, which began shortly after the horrible attack on Anene Booysen, as well as Drug Watch which has seen R10.5million worth of drugs taken off the streets of the Western Cape in three months and is now currently underway in Gauteng.
Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu said, “I am proud to be an elder in a country with citizens like you.”
Recent findings have revealed that more people believe that active citizenry can make a difference.
According to the 2013 Future Fact study which was conducted with over 3000 respondents throughout South Africa, 74% think the Lead SA initiative is a good idea. There has also been an increase in citizens believing that small actions on their part can make a difference.
“We are guilty of getting too down on ourselves, on focusing too intensely on what is bad,” added Tutu. “South Africa is a very beautiful country.”
Lead SA also announced its overall winner of the Lead SA Hero of the Month initiative, which saw the winner walk away with R150 000 for charity courtesy of the Dis-Chem Foundation.
Thirteen-year-old Jordan van der Walt from Gauteng – who has become well-known for his ‘Just One Bag’ initiative which has seen over one million underprivileged children around the country fed through the initiative’s maize meal collection – is the first overall Lead SA Hero of the Year.
Jordan was so moved by a documentary he saw a few years ago about African children that go to school hungry each day that he started this initiative, where he asked his schoolmates to bring one bag of maize meal to school. The campaign has been very successful – more than 50 schools have taken part in the initiative with over 50 000 learners bringing a bag of maize for the hungry.
“I’m very overwhelmed by this award,” Jordan said. “I want the other heroes to know that they are also heroes in their own right and know they will continue to make a difference in their communities.”
Two other finalists – Ashra Norton from the Western Cape as well as Dr Julia Ambler from KwaZulu-Natal – each received R50 000 for their chosen initiatives and also carry the title of the regional Lead SA Hero of the Year winners in their respective provinces.
Over the past year, the Lead SA has been highlighting the work of extraordinary South Africans who do wonderful things to make a difference in their communities, homes, schools and workplaces in these three provinces
Dr Ambler, one of the runners-up, founded Umduduzi Hospice Care for Children, which provides a unique service to children with life-threatening and life-limiting illnesses in the Kwa-Zulu Natal area.
“This organisation is close to my heart. Umduduzi brings compassion, dignity and relief from pain to these children,” said the doctor, who specializes in paediatric palliative care, ensuring children spend their last days pain-free.
Her organisation also counsels the children’s families to prepare them for the death.
Ashra Norton from the Western Cape, also received R50 000 from the Dis-Chem Foundation for her initiative. Ashra founded a school called The Leadership College in Manenburg, Cape Town.
Founded in 2010, the high school offers free education to learners in the community of Manenberg, Cape Town. “Being a free school and providing learners with stationery, uniform, textbooks and meals leaves the school with huge constraints,” said Ashra. She hopes to assist in the building of extra classrooms they need for 2014.
Ashra was nominated for her contribution to education in Manenberg, a gangster-ridden suburb in the Western Cape where very few people have little if any hope for their community.
Lead SA also announced the launch of a youth category (under 21) in the Lead SA Heroes initiative. “More and more young people are standing up in service of their communities and we recognised that this warrants a special category for the youth,” said Lead SA.