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Ellina Mhlanga–Senior Sports Reporter
FOLLOWING the recognition of her efforts to fight child marriages and pregnancy using taekwondo in her community by the International Olympic Committee, Natsiraishe Maritsa says she is inspired to keep going and hopes to grow her initiative.
Maritsa was the winner for Africa at the IOC Women and Sport Awards in Beijing, China recently.
Delivered every year at continental and world level, the awards recognise exceptional men, women and organisations for their work in advancing gender equality on and off the field of play.
“I wasn’t expecting this kind of award, like a continental award, because it’s a very great achievement being recognised internationally and in the whole world. So I wasn’t really expecting it but then it happened, I won the award and I am very thankful.
“This award really motivated me to keep going. It gave me that strength to keep pushing, to keep fighting for change because it’s an inspiration. It’s something that lets me know that I am not alone in this world. There are a lot of people who are supporting me, who are recognising what I am doing so it’s an inspiration to everything I am doing,” said Maritsa.
Maritsa is making a difference in her community, in Epworth, through her Vulnerable Underaged People’s Auditorium initiative, under which she uses taekwondo to fight child marriages and pregnancy.
The 18-year-old said after losing people that were close to her due to child marriages and pregnancy, she decided to start the initiative.
Without resources Maritsa, who already had an interest in taekwondo, saw the sport as a tool to drive her initiative.
“When I was in primary school I lost friends, classmates and close relatives to child marriages and pregnancies. I went to high school and the same predicament persisted, so after seeing the negative effects it had on the girl child, I realised I had to do something.
“But since I was also a child, I remember that was in 2019 when I decided that I had to do something, I realised I had no resources.
“But then I had something very important that I had seen that had changed a lot of things in my life, I am a taekwondo champion and I have learnt a lot of things in taekwondo, and I realised if I impart the same things in taekwondo, in the girl child, she will not get married before attaining 18 years.
“So I decided to create a foundation for the girl child and I started advocating against child marriages and pregnancies using taekwondo. So I named this initiative Vulnerable Underaged People’s Auditorium.
“Its main aim is to fight against child marriages and pregnancies using taekwondo.”
The Upper Six pupil, at Domboramwari High School in Epworth, works with girls from the age of 10 to 18 years and young mothers, who are survivors of early marriages.
Online Reporter