Ubuntu opens its Zwide community centre

The Ubuntu Education Fund, which aims to uplift people in the communities it serves, officially opened the Ubuntu Community Centre in Zwide, Port Elizabeth, yesterday.

The centre, for which planning began in 2006, is the culmination of the efforts of the Ubuntu Education Fund, which has become one of South Africa’s largest NGOs since its founding in 1999.

The opening was attended by many supporters of the project, including Mayor Zanoxolo Wayile and jazz legend Hugh Masekela, who also performed.

Jacob Lief, an American who came to Port Elizabeth in 1998 and co-founded the fund with Banks Gwaxula, said the R45-million building would allow Ubuntu to better implement its programmes. The building is also meant to make a statement.

“The question is why not build such a building here in Zwide? And that’s the mindset we try to change in people. It’s okay to build fancy schools, but why can’t we do it right here? We want the children in these areas to be able to compete with other kids who go to schools such as St Andrew’s.”

Although the building will also boast a pediatric HIV clinic and a community theatre, Lief said the main goal of Ubuntu was the education of vulnerable children.

“We only work with children who are sexually abused, orphaned or HIV-positive, and our goal is to get them to university.”

Port Elizabeth-born architect Stan Field said he tried to embody the spirit of ubuntu in the building. “In townships, people walk everywhere. On this site, three streets come together. The idea was to let these pathways run through the building. It’s a building to go through, not to go to.”

Field also said no walls surrounded the building, indicating it belonged to the community. The remarkable, angled shape of the building was a symbol of the humanness the word ubuntu stands for. “The structure is angled, so that the walls lean against and support each other.”

A total of 142 of the students Ubuntu has worked with since 1999 are at various universities, for which they receive bursaries and are given guidance.

Felix Makwindi, a 22-year-old human resources management student at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, said he could not have gone this far without the Ubuntu Education Fund.

“Ubuntu has allowed me to spread my wings and believe in myself. It has made me realise I could be a future global leader, and has encouraged me to dream,” said Makwindi, who is from KwaMagxaki.

“I’d like to do a master’s degree in African studies. I like to write, and I want to change the image the rest of the world has of Africa.”

The Ubuntu Education Fund is reaching more than 40000 children and has fundraising offices in New York and London.

(This story is courtesy of The Herald. Used with permission.)