Ulutsha teaches boys how to grow into good men, but on Wednesday both girls and boys were given shoes.
Lesley Kretzmann and Phumeza Ntsantsa run Ulutsha, working closely with Silverleaf Primary School in Dunoon.
With the help of the school, Ulutsha has identified 50 boys with behavioural issues and runs workshops for them, teaching them about conflict resolution, teamwork and the like.
“We try to have different topics like dangers of using drugs and under-age drinking and staying away from crime.
“We need to start being more proactive when dealing with boys’ issues instead of taking the reactive approach because often by then, it’s too late,” Ms Kretzmann said.
Ms Ntsantsa said there were many organisations helping girls, and she and Ms Kretzmann had felt more needed to be done to see to the wellbeing of boys.
“We identified that young boys also need love and support and not just leaving them to their own devices because society has taught us that boys are strong and are able to take care of themselves and their feelings. That is not the case,” she said.
Siboniso Qosho is a teacher at Silverleaf Primary and works closely with Ulutsha. He said discipline was a challenge at the school, especially among the Grades 4 to 7 boys.
“We still struggle to find solutions as to how to solve the issue of discipline among this group.
“Often even if we speak to the parents, they say that they have also run out of ways to discipline the children as they are problematic at home. Ulutsha approached us and came up with different ways in which we can help the pupils,” he said.
There had been a slight change in some of the pupils’ behaviour after the partnership between the school and Ulutsha started at the beginning of the third term, he said.
Now the pupils got excited every Wednesday and kept hounding him about when Ulutsha was coming back.
“We are grateful to this organisation and we hope our relationship lasts for a long time,” he said.