- Pretoria learner Siyabonga Yende, 18, posted a dancing video on TikTok saying he could not go to his matric dance.
- TikTok viewers asked how to help and gave him a suit, shoes, a haircut, flowers, transport, gifts and pocket money.
Siyabonga Yende posted a video of himself dancing and told TikTok he could not go to his matric dance. Strangers watched it and asked why, and how they could help. Today the 18-year-old is going.
Siyabonga is a Grade 12 learner at Hoërskool Hercules and lives in Pretoria West. He did not ask for donations.
The strangers gave him his suit, shoes, haircut, flowers, transport, gifts and extra pocket money.
Siyabonga started dancing in Grade 3. He said it became his escape from the challenges at home, and it makes him feel renewed, spiritually connected and able to express himself.
He has also worked with upcoming artists to help put food on the family table. The pay is not steady.
Things got hard at home when his mother lost her job. The family struggled to make ends meet. Siyabonga said there were periods when they could afford only one meal a day.
Sometimes they went to sleep without knowing where the next meal would come from, he said.
His mother, Clara Ouma Yende, 49, is a professional nurse. She has since found a job at a private clinic.
Clara said she always wanted her son to go to his matric dance. She told him not to lose hope and reminded him that hard times are not the end of the world.
The family had doubts about social media, but Clara said the experience has changed that.
“TikTok has shown our family kindness, and I am grateful,” she said.
She said the family has been managing by God’s grace and she is struggling to find the words to thank everyone. She told other parents to trust God, even when things look impossible.
Siyabonga said social media can be used for good or for harm, depending on how people choose to use it.
