Matric Thrift Shop offers matric ball outfits to students for a R20 entry fee
Here's when to catch the next one...
Picture: Department of Basic Education/X
CapeTalk's Lester Kiewit speaks to Bianca Pietersen, Matric Thrift Shop host.
Listen below:
Reaching matric is a milestone and the matric ball is a special event most parents and students look forward to celebrating.
For most, a matric ball symbolises successfully reaching the end of a 12-year schooling career.
However, some pupils can't afford to get dressed-up.
To help ease the financial burden of matric ball expenses and with the belief that every learner deserves the chance to enjoy this special milestone, Pietersen recently hosted a Matric Thrift Shop at the Family Bible Church in Silvertown, with more events planned in the near future.
The experience proved to be extremely popular and allowed matriculants to get kitted-out for their special night.
The cost? R20 which counts as an entry fee. Everything else after that is free.
"You don't pay for your dress, tie, shoes, suit... you're just paying a cover charge of R20 to get through the door. You select your items, do a fitting, go to your matric ball, and you return the items borrowed."
- Bianca Pietersen, Matric Thrift Shop host
Pietersen explains how the Matric Thrift Shop came about...
"It started in 2022, myself and my husband were youth leaders at the time. A friend of ours shared a flyer with us for a Matric Thrift... at the time, we had a few matriculants in our youth. Some of them came from not so good households and we thought, okay, let's give it a shot. We got our youth together, drove through to Kuilsriver and that's when we experienced this thrift... like many others, we couldn't believe that we only paid R10 just to get in and everything else was free."
- Bianca Pietersen, Matric Thrift Shop host
"To experience the look of... the matriculants in our youth group... to experience that smile, that excitement, it was just so amazing. I spoke to the mastermind behind it and asked if there's any way we could bring this to the Southern Suburbs and she said, you can head it up... and I went back to our church leadership and they caught the vision and they said yes..."
- Bianca Pietersen, Matric Thrift Shop host
"It means everything to them. One of the girls who came to our Matric Thrift Shop last year came in very shy and timid and I promise you, that girl, when she found a dress, she was modelling up and down that hall... I think in that way, finding that outfit, was like her dignity was restored and she was looking forward to the night because all of a sudden, there's a possibility of going to a matric ball to celebrate the first twelve years of her schooling career."
- Bianca Pietersen, Matric Thrift Shop host
The next Matric Thrift Shop is at Belhar High School on 23 August from 10am to 1pm.
Entry is R20.
Scroll up to the audio player to listen to the full conversation.