A tuckshop, Tshupelo�s panacea against poverty
Pini Bothoko | Friday August 29, 2014 15:19
The 25-year-old single mother of three – a daughter and two sons – had no means of fending for her family and only had a bleak future to look forward to, feeling impotent against the debilitating effects of poverty. Besides her three children, Tshupelo is also taking care of her 17-year-old brother who is boarding at Masunga Senior Secondary School.
It was not until BSB came to her aid with the tuckshop, which came stocked with a wide variety of merchandise amounting to P1,700, that Tshupelo began to see signs of relief on the horizon. It is anticipated her start-up stock will give her a profit of around P1,000.
“The donation could not have come at a better time,” she told Mmegi.
“After struggling without a job and relying on Ipelegeng this is the best thing to have ever happened to me.”
Recounting her history, Tshupelo says she grew up an orphan and after failing Form Three matters turned worse when she fell pregnant and the fathers of her children left her in the lurch.
“I grew up in a very difficult environment. Life was tough. I worked in a supermarket at Siviya village for about six years and used all my earnings to buy food for my children. I could not do anything for myself, “ she said.
Then lady luck, in the form of BSB came knocking at her door. Life suddenly changed for the better. Tshupelo is now an entrepreneur with a tuckshop servicing the village of Butale and other visitors.
“I remember that day very well. Our village social worker, together with a member of Village Development Committee and the project coordinator of the ‘NED Youth Against Crime and HIV/AIDS’, told me Butale youth had chosen to assist me with a tuckshop as a form of empowerment from poverty.
“This is a dream come true. I cannot believe I own a tuckshop full of stock. I thank the youth who grouped themselves to come up with this brilliant idea to help and alleviate poverty from needy people like me, “ she said.
According to Tshupelo the majority of youth, especially single mothers, are struggling without jobs and need urgent help as the fathers of their children are in the habit of breaking all ties and withholding support.
Her story, however, has taken a new narrative.
“I foresee a change in my life. I now have a source of finance and I will be able to use the profit I make here to take care of my kids and young brother.
“It was a sad moment at the beginning of this year when my brother was admitted at Masunga Senior Secondary School. I did not have money to buy him the school uniform and other clothing,” she said.
Her saviour, that time, was Village councillor, William Tatose, who responded and bought her brother a school uniform.
Going forward, Tshupelo expects to be able to buy her brother uniforms, snacks and other necessities, while also focussing on her long-term goal of moving from her one-roomed house and into the home of her dreams.