4/29/2011
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Education centre for township flourishing
4/28/2011 9:33:47 AM
Mawande Jack The donor-sponsored, R45m Ubuntu Education Centre in Zwide township in Port Elizabeth has grown into a magnetic education facility to scores of schoolchildren hungry to learn more to better themselves. More than 400 pupils from schools around the township flock to the centre daily for after-school classes in computer technology, life-skills training, language and communication lectures, arts and ceramics, singing, drama and dancing and for HIV/Aids awareness programmes. Launched in the mid-1990s as a project to provide schools in poor communities of Port Elizabeth with computer labs and information technology classes, the community centre has grown into being a leader in community development in the Nelson Mandela Bay. The construction of the state-of-the-art structure with a unique architectural design complying with the green revolution construction principles, was finished last year and officially opened in a traditional African ceremony. This was one of the rarest events in an urban area where traditional leaders and Xhosa traditional dancers came in large numbers to celebrate a facility meant to uplift the spirit of the community. In a typical Xhosa ritual, an ox was slaughtered on the day, November 11, and incense (impepho) used by Xhosa people to communicate with the ancestors was burnt, with guests served with meat (inyama) and traditional brew (umqombothi). The success and impact of this project resulted in Ubuntu Education Centre founder and director Malizole Gwaxula winning the highly prized citizen’s award for his dedication in serving the poor communities with distinction. “For those who believed that better things and progress is only possible in rich suburbs like Summerstrand and Walmer, the success of Ubuntu, a dream of our people, has proved them wrong,” Gwaxula said. A few weeks ago, the centre received sponsorship in the form of a minibus from multinational Barloworld in Johannesburg in recognition of the impact the project has had on communities. “Most of the children who come to our centre are those from families ravaged by HIV/Aids. We offer them skills to survive. Other members of the families are engaged in food garden projects to help feed themselves,” he said. Gwaxula boasts the whole initiative has helped to change the perception the children have about themselves. “It is something they are proud of. When they graduate from our programmes they do so as people with a newfound confidence, ready to make an impact on other people in their community.” About 250 of the children who were placed at the centre are now enrolled in tertiary institutions like Rhodes, Fort Hare and Nelson Mandela Metropolitan universities with the support of Ubuntu. “We have been in existence for 12 years and our efforts following the official opening of this permanent
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4/29/2011
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facility have become visible for all to see. This is changing people’s lives,” Gwaxula said. The facility has become a hive of activity with hundreds of schoolchildren attending classes offered by trained tutors in computer, language and communications, life-skills, arts and health. Plans are afoot for Ubuntu Education Centre to establish its own school with its own curriculum compliant with that of the education department, to start next year. “We will have our own academy next year for children to start from Grade R to 12,” Gwaxula said.
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