During the political turmoil in 1976, a Mzomhle Senior Secondary School pupil emigrated to Scotland with the local church.
Silumko Tsotsi, an alumnus of the renowned Mdantsane school visited his alma mater to hand over R50,000, a desktop computer, a printer and a few boxes of clothing items for the pupils. Tsotsi now works as a philosophy, moral education and religion staffer at Elgin Academy in Scotland.
“My colleagues in Elgin assisted me a great deal,” he said
“I asked them for £500 [R9,100] and they raised much more and did much more.
“Most of the money came from my pupils who each donated a pound each.
“Two companies outside of the school heard about what we were doing for Mzomhle and joined forces to bring in more money.
“My pupils also collected clothes amongst themselves to donate,” said Tsotsi.
Tsotsi’s Scottish pupils collected a total of 12 boxes of clothing.
He addressed the pupils on mental health.
“In my school we have a huge problem, which I suspect is similar to here, of children who suffer from mental health [issues]. I am part of a team who tries to help and support them.
“We are trained to be able to spot when our pupils are struggling. The biggest problem we find is the lack of self-confidence,” said Tsotsi.
Tsotsi went on to encourage pupils on how self-worth and self-knowledge were important keys to living a full life.
“Psychologically, if you can start to understand yourself and what makes you to be you, then most likely from that basic [understanding] you begin to move forward and deal with the situations you find yourself facing,” says Tsotsi.
The South African-born Scottish teacher urged pupils to see wealth as being more than monetary value.
“As a young person you want to create good things. All you want to do is have a good job, make money and drive a car. “Wealth is what you can provide for other people, wealth is what you see other people providing for you. Wealth is standing in front of your peers to assist them or ask questions. Wealth is being able to support Mzomhle in any way possible,” said Tsotsi.
Tsotsi said Elgin Academy and Mzomhle Senior Secondary school were in the process of developing an exchange programme.
“There will be four pupils from Elgin who have just finished high school who will come to Mzomhle for two weeks. They will be here to help with some of your work and tutor you.
“But they will also be here to experience life.”
The principal of Mzomhle, Malusi Kotlana, was over the moon about the gesture.
“When I arrived at this school I was welcomed warmly and presented with a mandate of taking the school back to where it was, back to its glory days. My response was positive, I took the mandate as a vision that we will be working towards. Today we are so happy that Mr Tsotsi has come back to our school with this donation.
|We receive this with a warm heart, we receive this with a lot of gratitude.”
The principal went on to identify the core areas that needed attention .
“We want to assure Mr Tsotsi that the R50,000 donated to us will be put to good use. It will go to the following projects; a matric camp that will assist in the improvements in the results of the class of 2019, a portion of that money will be spent on revamping our office and placing security in the administration block,” said Kotlana..