Bob and weave
LIYEMA Nyosi, 13, from St Paul’s Primary School, avoids being on the receiving end of a boxing lesson from Joseph Chinana from Mojo Boxing Fitness. The gym is hosting a fundraising event in conjunction with the Peninsula School Feeding Association.
A SEA Point gym, Mojo Boxing and Fitness, will be hosting a boxing event to raise funds for a local school feeding scheme.
All proceeds from the event, which will be held on November 30 at the Protea Hotel Fire & Ice!, will be going to St Paul Primary School through the Peninsula School Feeding Association (PSFA) – a non-governmental organisation that helps feed less fortunate children at school.
On Friday, the boxers competing in the event visited the school to train young boys.
Co-owner of the gym, Joseph Chinana, said they wanted to give back to the community. “The business has been doing very well and I felt that it is time we gave back to the community.
“It is difficult to imagine heading off to school for a full day, without having a single nutritious meal that day. That is the plight of so many children in our country.” he said.
The aim of the event is to raise enough funds to help provide breakfast and lunch to a class of 35 children for a year.
For the past three months, Chinana has been training with those who will be fighting. It’s a mixture of seasoned campaigners and novices.
“Boxing is a high intensity training and it is great to do it with the thought of actually helping someone through it, especially children. It’s fitness with a cause. Some of the boxers have never been in a match before and through this they are also getting some confidence and discipline. “I am very excited about the event and am sure it will be a success.”
Charles Grey of PSFA said since 1958 the organisation had been providing nutritious meals to more than 28000 children at 155 schools, serving over 1.5 billion meals to hungry school children.
“At St Paul Primary we provide meals to more than 200 pupils through our feeding scheme programme.
“We are very excited about the boxing event and it shows us a different way of fundraising. We depend on such fundraisers to help us serve the schools,” said Grey.
He said the organisation employed parents of the pupils to help make the meals and paid them a stipend.
Two Grade 6 St Paul pupils, Liyabona Ncenani and Liyema Nyosi, both 13, said they were happy about the visit and the event. “Today we learned how to defend ourselves and fight. We also taught ways of controlling our anger. It was fun,” said Ncenani. Nyosi said: “Many children come to school hungry and it helps when there is a feeding scheme.”
Tickets are on sale through Webtickets at R200. This covers entrance to watch 10 fights. There is parking available at an additional cost and a cash bar. – Zodidi Dano