Thank you for The Make A Difference Trust’s three year grant to Ubuntu Pathways (formerly Ubuntu Education Fund) towards the Ubuntu After-School and Performing Arts Project. Over the past 18 years, Ubuntu has grown into a vital community institution that transforms the lives of South Africa’s most vulnerable children. Your generous support will ensure the continuation of our life-changing work, placing families on a pathway out of poverty.
Children growing up in Port Elizabeth’s townships face Odds that are stacked against them. However, at Ubuntu, we believe that a child’s life should not be left to chance. Our innovative development approach provides disadvantaged children with what all children need to thrive – everything. In this way, a girl without financial resources wins a scholarship, studies maths at university abroad, and returns to teach undergraduates in South Africa. Students form a robotics team to build award-winning technology; an unemployed young man trains to become a barista and aspires to open his own coffee shop.
After nearly two decades of working within our community, we have learnt that there is nothing more sustainable than investing in a child every day of her life. We recently launched a bold Strategic plan that will generate lasting change in Port Elizabeth – Vision 2020. Our five-year strategy will enhance our “cradle-to-career” programming, amplify the Ubuntu Model, and ensure long-term impact. This ambitious strategy will catalyse a self-sustaining cycle of development that empowers families to break complex patterns of poverty and Inequality. As we share our model, Ubuntu will serve as the global standard for community transformation in impoverished areas around the world.
The Ubuntu Centre, now part of the fabric of Zwide Township, hums With activity from the rooftop
garden to the theatre. Keyboards click in the computer room; delicious smells waft from the kitchen; a student runs excitedly into her classroom; fathers walk out of the clinic holding life-saving medicine.
Our mission is rooted in ubuntu a South African ethos that speaks to our common humanity – we are all connected to each other, and our Interactions define us. Thank you for believing in our vision and ensuring that Ubuntu’s children grow up with opportunities that every child deserves.
Beth Honig , Director, Friends of Ubuntu Education Fund, UK