Ubuntu Takes Care Of SA Orphans
12 November 2011
Ubuntu is a philosophy that sees the world as a global web of interconnected humanity rather than as a mass of individuals. Two men of different race and generation - one South African, one American - are partners in a common cause. Educating and Developing the South African orphaned and vulnerable child through the UBUNTU Education Trust.
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From a chance meeting in 1998 in New Brighton Township, South Africa, Banks Gwaxula and Jacob Lief came to realise that they shared more than a common interest in soccer. The two shared an abiding belief in the power of education. Banks invited Jacob, a travelling student, to live in his home as family and work with him as a teacher in his township school.
Amor Coetzee and Gerhardt Coetzee, two senior photographic students from the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University photography department were involved in assisting the Ubuntu Education Fund in running a photographic program for underprivileged children. Pic Gerhardt Coetzee -NMMU
In the townships, Jacob witnessed people overcoming the desperation of poverty through the power of community. He learned that townships schools lacked resources taken for granted in even the poorest communities in the United States. Classrooms made out of abandoned shipping containers held as many as 60 students at a time. Children shared few desks and fewer chairs. Teachers taught in front of blank boards in schools that had not owned a piece of chalk in years. Yet students with neither books nor pencils listened attentively to their teachers for hours on end.
For despite the immeasurable hardships, communities remained dedicated to the belief that education would allow their children to overcome Apartheid's legacy of poverty, disease and inequality. Six months after their meeting, Banks and Jacob founded Ubuntu Education Fund. Today Ubuntu is reaching over 40,000 children with life-saving health and educational resources and services. We are proud of the numbers, but most of all we are proud of our staff and the children who are taking advantage of being the first generation of free South Africans.
The Nedbank Foundation in South Africa has contributed over R150 000 towards UBUNTU initiatives such as vegetable gardens, education, job readiness and skills training programmes which have benefitted orphaned and vulnerable children residing within a 7km radius from Zwide township in Port Elizabeth, among other areas. The Eastern Cape is one of the poorest performing provinces in South Africa when it comes to education. This is why Nedbank works closely with several NGOs and Government in the area to improve the state of education in this province. Nedbank is truly playing their part for a better South Africa as they pride themselves in contributing to community upliftment and development programmes that are both empowering and sustainable.
Source: www.nmmu.ac.za, www.ubuntufund.org, www.nedbankgroup.co.za
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