Durban — Volunteers affiliated with the Nelson Mandela Youth Centre in Chatsworth plan to feed more than 400 people as their contribution to Youth Day which is being celebrated on Sunday (today).
A team of 40 youth and adult volunteers will work together with the Revolution Motorcycle Club and deliver meals to the community of Welbedacht.
Clive Pillay, the youth centre’s co-ordinator, said the area they would feed had many improvised families. Therefore, they were always ready to help the people of Welbedacht.
“We will be going into a poor community to bring youth together and feed them. For years we have been hosting feeding outreach initiatives there because of poverty.”
Revolution Motorcycle Club riders are expected to ride into the area and rev up the mood by playing music. However, the day is also a way of educating the youth about freedom fighters (anti-apartheid activists).
Pillay said the initiative was being conducted in honour of Lenny Naidu, a former student activist who was involved in the Struggle as a member of the ANC’s armed wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe. “Richard Vallihu is donating the food. He's doing it also to celebrate the life of Lenny Naidu, who died on June 8, 1988. Naidu was brutally murdered by the apartheid police at the Swaziland border.
Pillay said volunteers would address the youth on the importance of education and reading, and highlight why Youth Day is celebrated and what it means for South Africans.
“It's important to identify with the Struggle youth waged against apartheid. In this case we would be celebrating the life of a young person who gave his life to fighting injustice and oppression,” said Pillay
Sunday Tribune