Switchboard opera-tor and single mum Constance Zulu (45) raised enough money to buy school uniforms and toiletries for 30 less-for-tunate children by collecting discarded 5-cent coins.  She told the pupils that she wanted
them to celebrate Valentine’s Day be-fore it happens.
“I want you to celebrate Valentines Day before it happens,” she said with a big smile at the handover,” she said.
The children got uniforms, as well as toothbrushes, toothpaste, bath soap, face cloths and socks.
Zulu encourages school principals to keep 20-litre buckets at the doors to their offce so that pupils, teachers
and visitors can put in 5c as part of her 5-cent fund-raising campaign.
The school principal Euphine Nhla-pho was grateful that her school was chosen to be the frst recipient of the
campaign this year.
“I am over the moon and have learnt a lesson that, as from today, I won’t pass by any 5-cent I fnd on my way,”
said Nhlapho.
Of the 639 pupils at the school, 133 are orphans. Half of these are the heads of their households.
Zulu started her 5-cent project in 2007 after listening to a DJ on Siswati-language radio station Ligwalagwala
FM who encouraged listeners to fnd ways to help those less fortunate than them.
“I went to my bedroom and prayed for a long time asking God to give me strength to give me an idea on how to
help poor families, especially school children,” she says. “When I opened my eyes, I saw fve cents lying on the
foor.”
She immediately put the coin in an empty mayonnaise bottle. The bottle soon flled up as friends, family and
neighbors started contributing their pennies.
Now she’s known as Ma keZuka (5-cent mum) or Mother Dresser because she has provided children with school
uniforms.
Last year, she clothed 20 children at Chakaza Primary School in Zwelisha near White River.
She also bought toothpaste, face cloths, soap and toothbrushes for 60 children at the school.
“I used the money which I had collect-ed the previous year,” she explained.When she took the coins to a bank, they amounted to R4 000.She added an additional R1 369.20 from her own salary.
“As a woman of God, I don’t fnd it strange to spend money helping other people because I know that God will triple it one day,” she said, laughing.This year she is hoping to donate uniforms to at least fve schools be-cause people are responding positively and keep calling her to come and col-lect their collections of 5-cent coins.Anyone who visits Danisile Zulu at home or work is also asked to give her 5-cents.
It may not sound much, but, in the past three years, Zulu has raised enough money to help needy children at seven schools in Mpumalanga.When she started the project, she also used some of her own money to supplement R3 000 worth of 5-cent coins and bought uniforms for 10 chil-dren at Lekazi primary school in KaN-yamazane near Nelspruit. She also gave them food parcels.
In 2008, she bought uniforms for 10 children at Shishila primary school in Msogwaba and for 10 children at Mpopoli primary School in KaBokweni.“I am happy that I’ve already spread the message about the 5-cents to other people in other villages because the re-sponse I got.  It’s amazing,” she said.
“So far, I have received tremendous support from everyone.”She says her colleagues and their guests frequently put 5-cents in a jar she keeps at the reception desk at the Ehlanzeni offces of the provincial edu-cation department in KaNyamazane, where she works.Zulu knows about hardship. She is a single mother of two grown-up chil-dren, Nompumelelo (28) and Teddyboy (23).
“I also take care of fve children in my area. I pay their school fees and make sure they dress nicely like any other
children in the community,” she said.Make 5-cents will be distributing school uniforms to poor kids in Nkom-
azi areas soon.
Her son, Teddyboy, said he wished more mothers were like his mother.“I wish all the mothers in the world could be like her. I learn a lot from her,” said Teddyboy, who no longer ig-nores discarded 5-cent coins he fnds lying in the road.
“Every time I see a 5-cent coin, I just think of the thousands of kids living in poverty in our country,” he said.He has also started buying and giv-ing out clothing to children in his area.