Johannes Mbekeni Mokobi

Like many children in South Africa today, I Johannes (Mbekeni) Mokobi do not know my biological parents. At the age of 3 months I was abandoned by my father (I know nothing about my mother) and I was left in a care of an elderly lady who ran a nursery school in Dobsonville/Soweto. I called her gogo and she raised me as best she could on the little income she received. Ugogo also gave me a name which I am well known with in Dobsonville. Mbekeni was the name meaning (look after him). In my adolescent years, I began looking for ways to make more money and tried doing so by helping shoppers carry their bags to their cars and taxi. The security guards at the shopping centre chased us away (my friends and I) and we began stealing petrol and sell it, also began begging for money instead.

Soon I lost my friends and was left begging alone, even slept on the streets at times when it was too late to return home. One day I was at a local shopping centre in Wilro Park begging. The children's Pastor of the West Rand Lutheran Community Church gave me some bread and invited me to the children's ministry. This invite gave me hope and so I joined the other children every Friday afternoon. Within a few years I outgrew in that ministry, became a co-worker for the children and took part in the youth ministry. During this time a social worker became involved due to my behavior of stealing, begging and truancy from school.

I changed schools constantly and I was sent to various children’s homes but ran away several times as the other teens brought in drugs, alcohol, fought and I felt I was too far from the people I felt cared for me. Thereafter, I stayed with a mentor for a short time, but was removed and placed with one of my 'grandmother's' daughter since the 'grandmother' was too old to care for me anymore. There I received minimal supervision and returned to skipping school in order to beg and spent most of my afternoons caring for my sickly 'grandmother'. In 2007 my 'grandmother' passed away and I chose to stay in the room, provided by the church I became involved with years earlier. This is where I was and there I received supervision, care, clothes, food, money and schooling. To find out more about me pls go to my website. Thank you