THE ONKABETSE TEAM
Mpho Mazamane
Founder & ceo
She founded Onkabetse Day Centre in 2007 to give children from disadvantaged background to have a place where young children can learn for free.
Tumelo Kujane
General Manager
General Manager, His Duties are to ensure that all the departments of the centre run accordingly, he is also Managing Mpho Mazamane- founder of Onkabetse Care Centre, for workshop, events, etc.
Christina Sibenya
Supervisor & Teacher
Her duties are to make sure that all staff follow procedures of the centre and ensuring that food are prepared and served daily according to Menu.
David Moshoeshoe
Security Manager
His duties are to secure the Centre
Edward Ngomane
Communication Manager
Communication manager at Onkabetse Care Center,his job is to connect us to the media.
HUMBLE BEGININGS
As a cut from a different cloth, our country is fortunate to have discovered Individual such as Mpho who hails from the humble beginnings in the street of Randfontein who was destined for greater things. Fate revealed its ugly head when the young Mpho at the age of 15 together with her friends was gang raped by nine men when the where out having fun.
Three years later she got married to an abusive husband who sexually and emotionally abused her, left her pregnant with HIV, she was just 20 year when she discovered her HIV status. The scourge of HIV/AIDS was not well received in the early nineties, she got rejected by family and friends, and she and her son Onkabetse had to move from one place to another, until the concrete street of Johannesburg was the place they called home.
A WAKE UP CALL
“One may view this as a low point in my life” said Mpho. “Ironically this was more that a wake up call for me, as I started to accept the reality of the situation and decided to change my life for me and my son”.
She pursuit studies in the health and safety sector and later became an HIV/AIDS, Practitioner, Advisor, Counsellor, Ambassador and Motivational speaker.
Her passionate work was recognised and awarded by none other than our icon Dr Nelson Mandela and his Foundation, They begin to endorse her work.
This helped her to find accommodation at the Nkosi Haven and there she met Gail Johnson who played a pivotal role in referring her to several entities to do public speaking to share her testimony and experience.
FINDING LOVE AT ONKABETSE CARE CENTER
It was during this time she found love of her life and met her current husband who is HIV negative, and moved to Vosloorus.
In Vosloorus she began to volunteered at the Trauma centre in the Police Station as a counsellor on gender based violence cases, rape cases and more. This motivated her to establish a Care Centre to accommodate most victims she encountered while attending different cases. She named the Care Centre after her son Onkabetse, it is turning 11 years this year and is growing leaps and bounds.
Onkabetse Care Centre is an Early Child Development place where they cater for children from disadvantaged families, Children Living with HIV, Children with disabilities, Rape victims, Orphans, Child headed families and no fees are paid for service rendered.
“As the constitution of the country fully support the right to education and the care centre heeded that call by contributing positively to the social development aspect of the community” Added Mpho.
She also started a woman support group for people living with HIV and doing counselling for Gender Based Violence cases