Bokang: From the Edge of the Streets to the Center of Hope

In the heart of Soweto, Orlando, where life’s battles are fought in narrow streets and small homes, lives a young man whose story defies the odds. His name is Bokang.

Born into a world shadowed by drugs and brokenness, Bokang’s life could have easily been another tragedy. His mother, just 14 years old when she had him, was already caught in the grip of addiction, a victim herself of abuse and unimaginable pain. Her passing left Bokang and his younger brother in the care of their 71-year-old great-grandmother, a woman whose hands had long earned their rest but now had to work again to feed two growing boys.

In many places, this is where the story would end: a boy swallowed by the streets, tempted by drugs, gang life, and hopelessness. But not this time. Not Bokang. Not with God’s plan in motion.

Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him…” And in Bokang’s life, that goodness came through Courage Youth.

For Bokang, the hardest part was not having a mother figure in his life. He never got to spend quality time with his mom or have mother-like conversations. This hurt him deeply, and he says

that losing a mother is something you will never be able to digest.

Courage Youth first met Bokang’s mother when she came seeking help for herself and her son. What they discovered was a story that could break anyone’s spirit, a young mother who had survived rape by a family member, endured a toxic relationship with a pimp, and was losing herself to drugs. Courage Youth didn’t turn away. They walked with her through counseling, helped her confront her abuser, and gave her the courage to return home. But addiction is a cruel master. She relapsed and, not long after, passed away, leaving Bokang with nothing but grief, questions, and the risk of following the same destructive path.

Instead, Courage Youth stepped closer. Life coaches at Courage Youth invited Bokang to their club sessions. At first, his faith was fragile, his hope thin. That changed when he met Akhona, a life coach at Courage Youth who had also lost her mother. In her, Bokang found someone who understood his pain without words. Through Bible studies, Discipleship Group Discussions held at the Courage Youth Clubs, and the warmth of a community that refused to give up on him, Bokang’s heart began to heal.

They cared for him, discipled him, raised him up to build the foundation that carries him strongly still today.

Bokang remembers Courage Youth Camp 2024 as the moment the last chains of his hurt fell away. “Losing a mother is not the end of the world,” he says now. “There will be people who love you and care for you, like Courage Youth did for me.”

Today, Bokang is not just surviving, he is leading. A respected young man at church, the statistician and historian for his congregation, a leader in Courage Youth Club, and the founder of his own Bible study group. Where once he hid behind the story that his mother was “overseas” to avoid teasing, today he stands unashamed, saying to her memory, “I made it. Through all the hardship, I made it.”

His current life coaches at Courage Youth, Bongiwe and Ntabiseng, describe him as a confident leader and a shining example to his peers. His journey is proof that cycles can be broken, faith can be restored, and lives can be transformed when someone dares to step in. Bokang’s life tells us one thing clearly: with God’s grace and the courage to act, no story is too broken to be rewritten.