In 2018, Marc Lubner, then CEO of Afrika Tikkun NPC, began raising the importance of regreening the townships as part of Afrika Tikkun living its value of responsible kindness. “There’s a need for Afrika Tikkun to demonstrate in practical terms, how, through the planting of trees, we can teach moral regeneration and the value of life,” Marc said. “If a child is taught the value of caring for the life of a plant, then the child will treasure and value all lives.”

As a result, in September 2019, Afrika Tikkun’s Wings of Life Centre in Diepsloot, partnered with Plantnation to plant 80 trees at the centre and at the Basa Tutorial School. These trees are mainly indigenous and local fruit trees, making them adaptable to the conditions and requiring less water. This is particularly important given that the centre often experiences water shortages. In June 2020, an assessment was done to determine how many of the trees survived. We are happy to see that 90% of them are alive and growing well.

The aim of this project is to bring more life in the community, remembering that we inhale oxygen from the trees and trees inhale carbon dioxide. Mr David Mokwena, primary caretaker of the trees at Wings of Life Centre, enjoys this task of nurturing the trees and watering them at least three days a week. “I’m happy the trees are growing so well; they look so green and healthy,” David said. “Although losing 5 out of the 80 trees still makes me feel sad.”

We look forward to these trees beautifying our centre for many years to come.

I am 28 years of age and a YES program candidate at Uthando Centre (Afrika Tikkun) as a Social auxiliary worker Assistant. I joined Uthando Centre on the 29^th of May 2019 as a Social Auxiliary Work student from Luxe College to do my practical for a period of one year. I was very amazed by the job Afrika Tikkun does and how staff interact with each other. They all looked like a one big family and through my stay I learned that they are indeed a family. I did my practical under the supervision of Mrs. Rosina Ramonyai (Senior Social Worker) and with the support and guidance from Nontsikelelo Henrietta Khunju (SAW).

During my practical year I learned a lot at Uthando and really enjoyed the events such as the Child protection parade, Gender Based Violence Dialogue, Mandela Day event (sports Day), Heritage Day event, and all the young urban woman events and meetings they did on the year 2019 and that made me feel that I belong to this big family because there was never a dull moment. Attending all this events enhanced my growth as a professional working in a child and youth care facility. I enhanced my skills and knowledge about working with able-bodied children, children living with disabilities, groups and community at large. This has been and continues to be a learning journey for both my personal and professional growth. Furthermore, it allows me to meet with different professionals from other disciplines which adds more value in my understanding in this field. I have gained strength and ability to conduct social dialogues, events and partake in every activity that requires Social Auxiliary Worker’s attention of cause with supervision. Another milestone that I underwent in this organisation is attending training that enhances a professional with skills and knowledge such as the Gender sensitization training, legitimate leadership, child protection and constant meetings with the supervisor to check on my progress in the space of learning.

On my journey with Uthando Centre I got a contract of a one year as a YES program candidate, which I was appointed as the Social Auxiliary Work Assistant on a SSS department on December 2^nd 2019. Working as social Auxiliary Worker Assistant helped me to grow and to have confidence in myself. I can really say I am a talkative person but I have always had low self-esteem when it comes to facilitating session. The position I hold now has built my confidence so much in a way that I took initiative of entering the annual business entrepreneur competition hosted by Afrika Tikkun Services (ATS). By entering the competition, I didn’t think that I will really make it to top 10 and to actually win the competition. The experience of the competition was amazing and I was very happy and surprised when they announced that I took position Two on existing business, Afrika Tikkun has really helped me grow and I am grateful for all the experience I get here at Uthando Centre.

How wonderful it is that nobody need to wait a single moment before starting to improve the world. The clock is ticking, and not one minute can be relived. A social worker is pulled in a million directions. And each minute is lived to the fullest

Anne Frank

Afrika Tikkun recently held a competition to celebrate women undertaking phenomenal work in their communities during the Covid-19 pandemic. Recognising the impact that Ma Thulile Maphumulo’s soup kitchen makes in Orange Farm, learners from Arekopaneng Centre selected her for the Community Builder Award. They also appreciated the fact that Ma Maphumulo is also living by Afrika Tikkun values by giving back to the community

As Ma Maphumulo walked the streets of Orange Farm, she realised that many people in the community were starving as a result of job losses and the financial hardship experienced by small businesses. In addition, households in the community usually depend on only one or two breadwinners. Seeing the hunger gap in her community and being a pastor, Ma Maphumulo felt it was important for her to act to alleviate this suffering. As a result, she cooks food and distributes food items using her own money. She has also started a vegetable garden for the benefit of the community and received a chicken donation from Afrika Tikkun which she was very grateful for.

The other reason she was chosen by the learners is that Afrika Tikkun Arekopaneng Centre assisted her son, Mbuso Maphumulo. Mbuso began at Arekopaneng Centre in Grade 9 in our Child and Youth Development Programme, and eventually graduated from our Career Development and Placement programme. He also received an opportunity to further his studies in medicine at Nelson Mandela University in Port Elizabeth.

As part of her Community Builder Award, Ms Maphumulo won a Pick n’ Pay shopping voucher worth R700, a grocery bucket and was presented with a certificate on the 9 August 2020 at our women’s day celebration event at Uthando Centre in Braamfontein. We celebrate Ma Maphumulo’s generous heart and compassion for her community!

Grace Masena, one of the three recipients of Afrika Tikkun’s Community Builder Award, is an inspiration to her peers. This Diepsloot resident was a victim of abuse by her husband for almost 15 years. After sustaining injuries from her husband that rendered her bedridden for 2 weeks, Grace decided to seek help from social workers. She, along with her two children, moved out of the house and into a small room.  

Unemployed, Grace decided to volunteer at an organisation in Diepsloot providing home-based care. With the help of other women, she then opened an ECD Centre (crèche). Although she was forced to close it temporarily in response to the lockdown rules, she wasted little time in getting busy and helping her community. Along with some of her community members, Grace started a soup kitchen. She makes use of different community halls in order to reach as many community members as possible.

Having turned her life around, Grace believes that every woman has the strength within herself to turn adversity into triumph.

South Africa (03 June 2020) – Ubuntu is a Nguni Bantu term meaning “humanity.” It is often translated as “I am because we are,” or “humanity towards others,” or in Xhosa, “umntu ngumntu ngabantu” but is often used in a more philosophical sense to mean “the belief in a universal bond of sharing that connects all humanity.”

And Ubuntu is the philosophy we need to all follow right now!

As a philanthropist rather than a psychologist I know more about people helping each other than I know about why they do it. What I know at the moment is that we’re seeing much more in the way of actual help for those affected by coronavirus than I’ve seen for any other cause, anywhere in South Africa, ever.

I’m not saying that South Africans are not usually a generous bunch. My experience is that many of us give what we can financially when a cause captures our attention; whether a monthly debit order to the charities of our choice or R5 every time we park our car in a public space, but we don’t often give time or intelligence. We’re too busy or don’t have the headspace to think about what is actually required.

Let’s be clear about this: money is much appreciated and always gratefully received. That said, I often wonder how much better our country would fare if our brightest minds got together and came up with long-term solutions to the very real problems, so many of our people face daily.

But with coronavirus, it’s different. Everyone is doing something to help and not just financially. Coronavirus has spurned a hands-on approach to helping that we’ve not seen in South Africa since the demise of Apartheid and I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about why?

My simple answer is because of Ubuntu.

Ubuntu literally means humanity towards others, and it’s not some crazy tribal construct, it’s a real philosophy that permeates this country and all that live here.

For the first time ever in this country, everyone feels the same sense of helplessness. In situations like this, the human condition is to freeze or fight. It’s relatively easy to bury your head in the sand – or write a cheque – when you’re not personally involved in something. But with coronavirus, everyone is involved. Everyone is afraid, and everyone is affected in some way. It’s impossible to freeze when you’re surrounded by very real suffering.

No one has a choice but to fight and get involved because every one of us personally knows someone who is hungry. There’s nothing more sobering than a close-up view of the extreme poverty in our country. We really need to pay attention because more than 1 million people are on the brink of food insecurity in our country right now.

I’m actively involved in running several philanthropic organisations that operate across townships and public hospitals and healthcare. At the start of lockdown, we put all our money into creating 40,000 food parcels to get people through a month of hardship. That was back when we thought lockdown was going to last three weeks. As we head for double that length of time, what now? An estimated 30 million South Africans require food parcels. And don’t get me started on the volume of masks and sanitiser required.

As all of our personal and corporate financial reserves start to wane, those of us with something are going to have to learn to do with a great deal less so that we can share with those who don’t have any.

What does that look like? Maybe we buy four cabbages instead of one tiny punnet of asparagus and give three cabbages away. Maybe we learn to grow food and teach others how to do it. And maybe we learn to listen to what people need, which may well be a bag of pap rather than a bag of sandwiches.

The ingenuity we’ve already seen amongst our fellow South Africans has sustained us, sort of. It’s the clothing factories converted into production lines for masks, ensuring continued employment for their workers and health safety for others, and the food manufacturers creating low-cost, high-nutrition, easy-to-distribute food packs, and the generosity of the neighbour who shares what they have with those that don’t that will keep us limping along.

Everyone, in the true spirit of Ubuntu, needs to keep coming up with new ideas. For instance, you know all those loyalty points you collect but never use. Most loyalty card schemes are now allowing you to donate them to feeding schemes. Do it! Apply your mind and come up with your own ideas about how you can make a meaningful difference.

As South Africa heads into week nine of lockdown, the needier our people become. As you give, give enough so that your recipients can share with a friend or neighbour. In other parts of the world that’s called conscious capitalism. In South Africa, it’s called Ubuntu.

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Young People’s Experience During the Pandemic

Over the last few weeks we’ve been inundated with Covid-19 news, advice and memes. What we’ve heard relatively little about is how people are really coping, particularly young people. In light of this, we reached out to a few young people in our Child and Youth Development Programme at Uthando Centre. In addition to asking them to provide an inspirational quote that gets them through this time, we asked them to give us the true lowdown on the lockdown:

The lockdown has its advantages and disadvantages. It has helped me bond with my mom, because my mom and I get home really late and we are usually exhausted and don’t have time to spend together. However, the lockdown comes with financial challenges because my mom is self-employed and she is kind of lives hand-to-mouth, so it will be hard after the lockdown. But I know that God will be with us. Sibusiso Busie Nkomo, grade 9

Days at home gives us time to relax and recover from school; it’s a time to bond as a family and catch up on each other’s lives. It also gives families time to resolve issues and problems. Being a President at the Johannesburg Housing Company Youth Executive (JHCYE), and with the help of the executive team, I had to make sure all my peers stayed at home. I am not the type of person to stay at home to be honest, even though my days at home have turned out to be fun. Still, I feel like I am missing out on a lot of school time, the running club at the centre and workshops at JHCYE. What I fear the most is that returning to school after the lockdown we will be swamped with lessons and work. We are grateful for the online lessons and the commitment from our educators to keep us in check during this period. Sphesihle Mbele Grade, grade 10

I live in Hillbrow, a place that doesn’t really listen to rules. There hasn’t been a lockdown because people just go outside to chill. Then we ask ourselves why it’s getting worse. I haven’t been doing school work because my school has not sent us or told us anything and there are some things I need help with. For some, this lockdown is a joke. For us, it’s a matter life or death. Fear still lives in us as we go through this pandemic period. For it seems like no one adheres to the rules in my community. Calvin Kamphinda, Grade 10

This Coronavirus pandemic got me by surprise, I knew it was going to have a huge negative impact on my academics as I thought that the grade 12s would be going to school. It’s been hard for me to cope as I am not used to self-study or online learning, I had to try and adapt to the change, which at times is difficult. I have so much pressure because of the workloads given to me by subject teachers. At home, we were able to make to the 6th day with food and by luck I got a call from one of the facilitators telling me to organise young women from the Young Urban Women Group to come and get food parcels from the centre, which I am very thankful for. The burden of worrying about food supplies was lifted off my mind. I can now fully focus on my studies. Noxolo Khupe Jele, Grade 12

Ever since the pandemic started spreading like a wild fire, followed by the lockdown, I’ve had the chance to work on something new, to practice or even finish books. The lockdown is also giving me the opportunity to spend more time with my family, to laugh and have the best memories one could ask for. It’s giving me plenty time to understand myself more, reflect on what I did, what I am doing and what I wish to do. Marvellous Sibanda, Grade 10 student.

Since the lockdown was announced, all that filled my head was the negativity; the sad reality that all my plans, opportunities and projects that would have to be cancelled. But who said reality cannot be altered? When everyone sees trash in the lockdown, I see a treasure of opportunities to “give back”. During this pandemic, life is my privilege, and giving back is the only positivity I can offer my community. I am conscious and aware of the rising pandemic but I do not think my whole community is. I have found my opportunity to give back and I will not let it go. Karabelo Moima