MLMC was born from the conviction that young people need more than warnings. They need trusted spaces, local mentors, practical programmes and a culture that helps them choose before crisis chooses for them.
In 2017, Zakhele J Mabaso began shaping My Life My Choice after disturbing accounts of very young girls giving birth exposed a truth communities could no longer soften: too many children and teenagers were carrying adult consequences without enough positive space, guidance or protection around them.
What happens to a young person when the only available spaces are pressure, silence, survival and imitation?
The answer became the foundation of MLMC: build spaces where young people can speak, learn, serve, move, grow food, study, think about money, meet mentors and experience a different kind of belonging.
MLMC uses the Black Bag idea to describe the social weight many young people inherit: broken support systems, idle time, harmful norms, poverty pressure, unsafe relationships and decisions made before the consequences are understood.
Teenage pregnancy stories forced a deeper response than sympathy. MLMC began asking how communities could intervene earlier, with dignity and consistency.
The movement shifted from awareness to structure: trusted adults, positive free-time spaces, programme pathways and chapter-based accountability.
Six programme responses now connect education, health, agriculture, environment, character, money sense and practical work readiness.
Ambassadors make the movement local. They host activity, invite participants, track follow-up and keep the work rooted in real community needs.
MLMC is not a single campaign. It is a programme ecosystem designed to meet different life pressures with practical, repeatable positive spaces.
Routine, tutoring, confidence and academic support for learners and young adults who need structure.
Soil, food, discipline and community land use as a pathway toward dignity and responsibility.
Movement, health awareness and active lifestyles that help young people value their bodies and futures.
“When a young person finds a positive space before the wrong space finds them, a life can turn.”
That is the reason MLMC keeps building chapters, training ambassadors and turning concern into programme activity.