Holly Joyce Lehren is a senior at Columbia High School.
In an effort to aid the work of the Ubuntu Education Fund in the township of Port Elizabeth, South Africa, the Columbia High School Ubuntu Club will be stationed outside of [words] Bookstore (179 Maplewood Ave., Maplewood) on Saturday, March 21 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.. Baked goods will be sold in an effort to gain additional funds to help finance Ubuntu’s work in Port Elizabeth. In addition, members will be available to provide further information about the organization and the individuals aided by their program.
The Ubuntu Club of Columbia High School was created in the fall of 2014 as a satellite association of the Ubuntu Education Fund. The first of its kind in the nation, the Ubuntu Club serves as an additional financial source, as well as a means to spread communal awareness of the situation in third world countries, and the work of the Ubuntu Education Fund.
Former Maplewood resident Jacob Lief founded the Ubuntu Education Fund in 1999, working alongside Malizole “Banks” Gwaxula, as a means of distributing academic supplies to orphaned and vulnerable children.
Lief’s friend and Columbia High School graduate, Jordan Levy, joined Ubuntu as the Chief External Relations Officer. In 2013, Levy was inducted into Columbia High School’s Hall of Fame. Returning to his alma mater, Levy used the honor as an opportunity to bring to the students’ attention the kind of poverty that consumes the community of Port Elizabeth.
Those images were reiterated by Jacob Lief to the members of Columbia High School’s Ubuntu Club: “Think about where you are today, and then think about everything that your parents, teachers, coaches, and family have tried to give you along the way — doctor visits, backpacks full of school supplies and textbooks, athletic practices, music lessons, a safe and secure home, running water, and three meals a day. At Ubuntu, we are trying to give the same love, support, resources, and opportunities to orphaned and vulnerable children living in the townships of Port Elizabeth.”
The crippling 25.2% unemployment rate of South Africa has made nearly impossible the personal ambitions of several generations, while the AIDS epidemic has resulted in the deaths of millions of children and the destruction of families nationwide. In the township of Port Elizabeth, students are faced with the serious additional disadvantage of crime and domestic sexual abuse.
In the past several years, Ubuntu Education Fund has evolved as an all- encompassing model that addresses each of these issues in order to create for the community a program that yields for each individual a productive career path.
Working within a platform providing parental care, reproductive health services, care in early childhood development, dental and eye exams, HIV treatment, an after- school program, household support, scholarship programs, career guidance, and programs focusing on job readiness/ skills, Ubuntu has gained significant results.
As reported by the Ubuntu Education Fund, in 2011, 96% of Ubuntu clients adhered to their HIV drug regimens, as opposed to 57% in the city of Port Elizabeth and 75% in all of South Africa. Moreover, 82% of Ubuntu clients were able to work towards the ultimate goal of a productive career within four years of joining Ubuntu. Compared to the 37% of students in community schools, 72% of Ubuntu clients pass the Matric (Grade 12) exam.
The work of Ubuntu in the township of Port Elizabeth has gained the attention of innovators of social change internationally. During the summer of 2013, President Clinton and Chelsea Clinton visited the Ubuntu Centre and personally met the students of the community, gaining further insight into the lives of Ubuntu clients, and the numerous programs Ubuntu has enacted in order to focus each individual on a pathway to success.
To learn more of Ubuntu’s work and the members of the community the organization has remained dedicated to for the past 16 years, please visit www.ubuntufund.org
