A 25-year-old woman from the village of Ga-Mokhokoni in Limpopo has turned her personal experience fighting poverty into a mission to help children. She launched a center that provides daily meals for about 60 children from low-income families.
Law student Tuto Selomo used her NSFAS scholarship of R5,800, which was intended for purchasing textbooks for her legal education, to open this center. The center, managed by Tuto Selomo Organization, provides daily meals to children from disadvantaged segments of society.
In an interview with IOL, Selomo shared that her difficult childhood inspired her to help others in similar circumstances. She recalled growing up in extreme poverty where securing food was a constant struggle, and her parents fought hard for sustenance.
Her father worked as a temporary laborer on construction sites, and her mother was unemployed. Selomo shared that sometimes they slept after consuming only pap and milk, as there was no other choice. Growing up in poverty, she often imagined how she could help families facing similar hardships if she had resources.
Her desire to help was also inspired by the work of the late Nigerian televangelist Temitope Balogun 'TB' Joshua, whom she observed helping the needy and distributing food parcels in various countries. Initially, her efforts were directed towards community aid, including donations of hygiene products, school uniforms, and shoes.
Tuto Selomo opened the Tuto Selomo Organization center in 2025 and registered the organization with the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) and the provincial Department of Social Development. She noticed that many children in her community required assistance beyond one-off donations.
The center operates from Monday to Friday from 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM, providing one meal per day. Furthermore, it serves as a safe place where children can play, avoid the streets, and receive academic support. Currently, the center feeds about 60 children aged one to seventeen. Selomo manages the center along with her mother and one other person.
In a crucial step that helped her start the initiative, Selomo utilized part of her NSFAS scholarship to fund the project. She told IOL that she used her R5,800, designated for buying study books, to launch this initiative.
Selomo has been studying for a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree at the University of South Africa (Unisa) since 2019 and expects to graduate in 2027. Previously, she worked as a teacher's assistant, using her income to further fund the center. After her wedding in October 2025, her husband also began contributing to the center's expenses, helping financially from his job and accepting donations from others.
Despite the challenges in starting and running the center, the community has received it positively, seeing how it helps children from poor families by providing them with food and a safe space. Selomo emphasized that many children face severe conditions, such as parental mental health issues, the need to take responsibility for younger siblings at an early age, and lack of school uniforms.
Selomo hopes that in the future she can do more than just provide food for the children; she dreams of providing them with housing. She advises young people not to wait but to take action if they have an idea or a strong desire to help, stressing that she started with a small amount.