Year Two, Same Belief: 50 Uniforms Walk Into Zitikeni Secondary School

On Friday, 29 May 2026, 50 learners at Zitikeni Secondary School in Tembisa walked into a classroom and found 50 brown paper bags lined up across a red-draped table. Every bag had a card on the front. Every card had a name. Inside each bag, a full school uniform sponsored by Growthpoint Properties through the Growthpoint Gives staff initiative, in partnership with Threads for iKasi Foundation. This was not the first handover with Growthpoint. It was the second.

Quick Facts

Handover

Zitikeni Secondary School, Tembisa, Friday 29 May 2026

Uniforms handed over

50 full school uniforms

Sponsor

Growthpoint Properties, through the Growthpoint Gives staff initiative

Organisation

Threads for iKasi Foundation, NPO 2024/352240/08

Packaging

Each uniform was packed in a bag carrying the recipient's name on a card

Partnership

The second handover with Growthpoint, making it year two of the partnership

Start time

The school's multi-purpose hall was full by 09:00

Campaign status

Open. Sponsorships are accepted on an ongoing basis

A Bag With a Name On It

By 09:00 the multi-purpose hall at Zitikeni was full. A Growthpoint Gives banner stood next to a Threads for iKasi pull-up that read "A golden thread for the African child." The school principal opened. The Threads for iKasi team explained why a uniform matters. Then the names started being called.

When a learner's name was called, they walked up. The volunteer behind the table found the bag with their name on the card and handed it over. The learner looked inside, every time. There was usually a pause. Sometimes a laugh. Sometimes a thank you whispered too quiet to hear. Then they walked back to their seat carrying a bag that, by Monday morning, would be unpacked and ironed and worn into a classroom. Fifty times the team watched that happen.

Year Two: Choosing to Return

The 1000 Uniforms Campaign started with a simple idea: a school uniform is not just fabric. It is belonging. It is the smallest, most visible signal a learner gets that someone, somewhere, believes they should be in school today. Last year, Growthpoint stood with the foundation at its earlier handovers. They wrote the cheque, they showed up, they helped pack bags. And then, this year, they came back.

In a country where most CSI partnerships are one-and-done, choosing to return matters. Growthpoint Gives is a Growthpoint staff initiative that takes the values of the company and turns them into community work. The same staff who came to the handovers last year drove out to Zitikeni this year. Same partner. Same belief. New uniforms walking through new school gates.

The 1000 Uniforms Campaign

The 1000 Uniforms Campaign is a Threads for iKasi Foundation initiative to deliver 1000 full school uniforms to learners across South African townships who cannot otherwise afford them. Every uniform is sponsored, sized, packed, and handed over by name. The Zitikeni Secondary School handover adds another 50 learners to the journey.

Each bag at Zitikeni was sponsored at cost by Growthpoint Properties through Growthpoint Gives. Threads for iKasi Foundation handled sourcing, sizing, packing, the school relationships, and the handover day itself.

Why We Blur the Faces

If you are scrolling through the photos from Friday and you notice that the learners' faces have been softly obscured, that is deliberate. The smile on a young learner receiving a school uniform she could not otherwise afford is not a moment the foundation wants to monetise on the internet.

We can show you the colour. The energy. The dignity. The partnership. The scale. What we will not do is make any individual learner identifiable in a public post they did not opt into. The pride is real. You will have to take our word for it.

What Comes Next

Threads for iKasi Foundation extends sincere gratitude to Growthpoint Properties and the Growthpoint Gives team for choosing this community for the second year in a row. To Zitikeni Secondary School and its leadership, for opening your hall and your morning. To the volunteers who packed late into Thursday night so that every bag had a name on it.

The work continues. More schools are waiting. If you, your company, or your community group wants to sponsor a uniform, a class, or a school, the door is open. A golden thread for the African child, weaving the fabric of our communities, one school at a time.