He and his friend Jeremiah, both orphans, used to meet under a Marula tree 2 km from River Cross and plan ways to help the community. In 1998 confident that it was “God’s calling” he took the plunge and started the Civil Society Development Initiative. Petrus’s motivation was that no-one in his community would have to go through the hardship he went through as an orphaned child-head of a family of 5. His initiative provides home based care, care for orphans and vulnerable children, educational programmes including health promotion, a food kitchen and innovative employment initiatives and small businesses including catering for weddings and funerals, hiring of tents and chairs and chicken layers and meat. Petrus also mentors and runs training for 32 other CBOs and NGOs in the Greater Tubatse area. His organisation takes health awareness campaigns seriously and regularly visits the mines, taxi ranks, schools and local drinking spots.
