Category: 2017

Afrika Tikkun USA CEO awarded Advocate of the Year at 7^th annual African Diaspora Awards

New York, USA

“I dream of the realization of the unity of Africa, whereby its leaders combine in their efforts to solve the problems of this continent.”~ Nelson Mandela

On the eve of the fourth anniversary of the passing of Nelson Mandela, Applause Africa Communications hosted its 7th Annual African Diaspora Awards (ADA) in New York City, during which 15 leaders were recognized for being engines of impact and change to inspire the African community within the U.S. and around the world. Among those recognized was Afrika Tikkun USA’s CEO Elizabeth Ngonzi, who was awarded “Advocate of the Year”.

The ADA Awards is a premier awards ceremony applauding outstanding African leaders who have been engines of impact and change to inspire the African community within the U.S. and around the world.

Emceed by Essence Now host, Makho Ndlovu and acclaimed comedian, NaMÓ, this year’s ADA theme was “building unity”. Building Unity is a larger-than-life theme that helps Africans in the Diaspora celebrate their uniqueness and strengthen ties to each other in the Diaspora.

Over the past ten years, Applause Africa has committed time, energy and resources to identify and celebrate notable Africans that have genuinely excelled in various spheres of life, as well as individuals in society who have contributed to the advancement of Africans in the Diaspora and Africa as a whole. This event has become the convening of the “crème de la crème” of meaningful and powerful leadership in the Diaspora.

“I am very humbled and grateful to be honored with Afrika Tikkun, and share this award with visionary CEO Marc Lubner, the staff and most of all the beneficiaries who inspire me,” commented Ngonzi. Hailing originally from Uganda, Elizabeth Ngonzi has worked tirelessly in the USA since 2014 on behalf of the Tikkun cause to enable the young people of South Africa to fulfil their potential and become economically empowered. “Along with the other 14 distinguished honorees, I have dedicated my career to fighting tirelessly to not only change the narratives that are being told about Africa, but also working to nurture young people whose stories will inform other positive ones in the future.”

She is passionate about challenging a narrative that assumes that it is developed countries who produce and share knowledge, funds and value for everyone else, who they simply see recipients. “The unconventional experiment in which I have been involved has demonstrated that the African Continent has a lot to teach the rest of the world. In Afrika Tikkun’s case, it is a proven cradle to career holistic development model that can be replicated in disadvantaged communities worldwide.”

Photo credit to Applause Africa Communications

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Since our very beginnings in 1994, Mr Cyril Ramaphosa has been Afrika Tikkun’s patron, believing and supporting our cause passionately. While he remains “tremendously supportive of the work Afrika Tikkun does”, Mr Ramaphosa is unable to continue as patron due to his political profile, which prevents him from retaining an involvement in any concern where his position presents potential for conflict of interests. Afrika Tikkun wishes Mr Cyril Ramaphosa peace, wisdom and everything of the best at this very critical moment in South African history.

We thank him with all our hearts for his years of dedicated patronage, and look forward to continued friendship with him.

From the moment I first met Ann over thirty years ago, it was abundantly clear that she was not coming to South Africa merely to serve as a partner to Chief Rabbi Cyril Harris, who had accepted an invitation from our Jewish community to serve as Its Chief Rabbi.

She was clearly very much her own person and it was apparent even at that early stage, that Ann was going to make her own unique contribution, not only to our own community, but to the ambient society as a whole. Her reputation as an activist helping the then Russian refuseniks had preceded her and it was a given that Ann would never be a passive observer, particularly in the face of injustice.

Ann is extremely practical and realistic and we all know that she tells it as it is. In his book “For Heaven’s Sake”) the Chief Rabbi told the story of how Ann took one look at his first salary cheque as a congregational Rabbi, and immediately decided to seek employment.
She was a qualified solicitor and she re-entered the legal world, rising eventually to become a full partner in a prestigious London practice.

Suffice it say, her relationship with her husband gave meaning to the Talmudic dictum:”
Let a man be careful to honour his wife, for to her alone he owes the blessings of his house”.

The late Chief Rabbi has rightly been described as the right person at the right time. Ann’s role in his success cannot be under-estimated. Theirs was a partnership in every sense.
Both had the capacity to see the whole picture and to this day we continue to benefit from their vision; indeed we were blessed that they were here to guide our fearful and confused community to embrace and contribute tangibly to the birth of t e new South Africa.

We’ve heard from Marc about the founding of Afrika Tikkun. Ann served as its first Operations Director, in a purely voluntary capacity. It was her ability, personality, energy and passion that enabled her to develop and give meaning to the Jewish values of its founders, which values underpin the foundations of this most impressive and successful organization to this very day.

It is Ann who exemplifies the Jewish heart of Afrika Tikkun. We all know how difficult it is to see God, or good, or human dignity in those whose language is not mine; whose skin is a different colour; whose faith is not my faith; and whose truth is not my truth. It is Ann who gives meaning to the generosity of spirit needed to cross these divides, who emphasises that God transcends the particularities of culture and the limits of human understanding. She remains a constant voice of vision and moral courage.

As long as there is hunger, poverty and disease in the world, there is work for us to do. And, if we listen carefully to our Innermost whispers, we can hear the voice of God asking us, as he asked the first humans – where are you?

Ann is one who answered that call. She knows that we do not, that we cannot, redeem the world altogether in one go. She does one day at a time; one person at a time; one act at a time. Our sages teach us that a single life is like a universe. Save a life and you save the world. Change a life and you begin to change the world. That is called Tikkun Olam and that is what Ann Harris personifies

Ann serves as the very hands on Chair of the African Jewish Congress. She impresses not only with her grasp of the innumerable and varied issues these communities face, but more importantly with her concern and compassion for the people who struggle to keep the flame of Judaism alive in the smallest outlying areas of Africa.

Organization is important but the core of her concern remains the families, the Individuals, the young and the old, who struggle daily to remain part of our ancient people.

Many of us here this evening have the z’chut to enjoy Ann’s friendship and confidences. As we mark her 80th birthday we express our gratitude and thanks for her unstinting friendship, loyalty and support through the ups and downs of life. She remains a caring, generous and much appreciated friend.
Conventional wisdom tells us that octogenarians start taking it easy. Ann’s ongoing involvement, dedication and commitment to community belies that assumption. Her continued leadership of many varied communal organizations provides tangible evidence
of her ability to multitask, to motivate and to inspire•

Friends, many successful people live in this world, but how many can honestly answer the question: You have been successful, but have you been a blessing? Ann Harris certainly has and continues to be a profound and wonderful blessing to all who have the privilege of being inspired by her.

I ask you all to join in our prayer that she be blessed to continue to be our guide, friend and mentor for many years to come.

Thank you

Micky Glass

The flame of hope kindled in 1994 under the ethical and courageous leadership of our founding father of our democracy, President Nelson Mandela is being doused by greed. Public office is no longer seen as the service to our citizenry and country, but as a business opportunity for those in power, their families and a crony economic and political elite.

We have forgotten that the guiding principle of South Africa’s Constitution requires the democratic state to use public resources and the annual budget process as a redistributive mechanism to truly transform our highly unequal society. To do this is to bring the bottom up, not take the top higher. And that bottom, the underclass, is getting bigger, angrier and restless today.

 

Today we live in a democracy in which social justice and human dignity is at the heart of our Constitution. We have a right to meet here today, to organise ourselves and to speak our minds. We have not just the right, but the obligation to speak out. We live in a country where democracy is undermined daily as fourteen million people go to bed hungry, one in four is unemployed and one in three living a survivalist existence on social grants. The ‘political miracle’ of the 20^th century in 1994 is seen as meaningless by millions of fellow South Africans.

 

That’s why I have returned to where I started my political life, working with evicted farmworkers from farms in the eastern Free State, co-creating a future based on sustainable, thriving and resilient villages building models of socially useful work producing socially useful goods and services based on community driven livelihoods in agriculture and other enterprises.

 

At the same time, we live in a rapidly changing world characterized by volatility, uncertainty, unpredictability and fluidity. The technological revolution of the last two decades had fundamentally changed the world we live in. In particular, it has changed the work and nature of production and growth. In the age of robotics, nanotechnology, automation and 3D printing rethinking education and livelihoods is key to our success.

 

Short-termism has become our mantra – how to satisfy our self-indulgence and individual drive for consumption and accumulation in a fearful materialistic world. The consequence is the rise of rightwing populism across the developed world best epitomized by the election of Donald Trump in the United States as President, the Brexit debacle, and even with the welcome triumph of Emmanuel Macron as President of France let us not forget that one in three French citizens voted for the hateful politics of Marine le Pen. The developing world is not doing any better. I sit on the Board of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, the premier African foundation promoting excellence in good governance and leadership on our continent.

 

Our 2016 report, based on real data, concluded that almost two-thirds of African citizens live in a country in which safety and rule of law have deteriorated in the last 10 years. One does not have to be a rocket scientist to understand that without the rule of law citizens will experience a decline in governance and overall quality of life, intensifying repression and even armed conflict.

 

In our backyard, we see such armed conflict growing in Mozambique, the DRC and exploding into civil war further north in South Sudan and Libya. In many other countries, including Ethiopia, Uganda and Egypt, political and civic space is closing fast.

This is the environment within which business must learn to lead in the journey of human evolution and business leaders must learn to heed the call for transformation and growth coming from society, from their stakeholders, from their employees and from within themselves. This is relevant for us in South Africa, where in the context of failing state especially at a local level we have to rise to the challenge as civil society and citizens.

For a nation to flourish companies must participate and evolve to become conscious and adopt a spirit of co-operative partnership, address societal imbalances, increase productivity and efficiency, maintain transparency, accountability and governance. They must become a Conscious Company.

 

The key question is HOW?

 

I have encountered a new term – Ecority in my journey. It is a belief that all life is sacred; and that it is our collective responsibility to protect the rights of all living things on the Earth. Ecority sets new standards for what it means to be human – standards to which all human activities, especially economic production and consumption, need to adhere.

Before the 21^st century, ecority was considered inimical (or at best a distraction) to running a profitable business or successfully governing a nation. Within the corporate domain, early advocates of environmental sustainability and corporate social responsibility were mostly ridiculed because of this.

Today that is certainly not the case. In fact, the reverse is true. While not all leaders have come to terms with the fact, the case for ecority is overwhelmingly persuasive, and on so many different levels. It can no longer be ignored. Customers are acutely aware of this. Regulators and activists avidly monitor corporate behaviour as never before. Employees demand ecority as the trade-off for giving their ideas, time and labour to the enterprise.

Besides this, the planet will not accept anything less. Over the past few centuries, the world’s developed nations have plundered the resources of the planet, creating a situation where there is quite literally no alternative. We live in an ecological emergency where climate change is already driving conflicts and wars in competition over scarce recourses such as land, water and food.

I am reminded of an old native American proverb – “We do not inherit our Mother Earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from or children.” When will our generation understand what is enough, how many homes, cars, things we can own?

Most people recognise that every decision and action we take must now observe the principle of ecority, for without it we are set on an inevitable trajectory of organizational entropy and global destruction. It serves no purpose to be ambivalent at this razors edge in our journey as humanity.

My overriding submission to you is that A COLLECTIVE SYSTEM, AND ORGANIZATIONS, CAN NO LONGER SUSTAIN THE IDEA OF INDIVIDUAL LEADERS AS CHANGE AGENTS.

The solution is to embrace a COLLECTIVE ETHICAL LEADERSHIP ROOTED IN CONSCIOUSNESS, AND RETURNING TO THE FIRST PRINCIPLES OF HUMAN KIND.

• We need to accept the reality that our organisation and ethos is to embrace the principles of flexibility, adaptability, diversity, fluidity, ambivalence and ambiguity in our world.
• Leadership can best be described as situational, temporary and non-binding; effectively meaning that, the people lead themselves for most of the time. Leaders are guides leading from behind, the middle and from the front when needed.
• Implicit in the new mode of business is the principle of reciprocity; putting humanity back in our politics and economy that is bound by humility, even-temperedness and generosity – all of which ultimately results in conviviality and social cohesion.
• Our earliest ancestors in our cradle of humanity, the Bushmen prevented lying by being They prevented stealing by sharing what they have. They prevented conflict by being inter-dependent. They prevented competition by sharing all knowledge.

So how do we define the New Normal?

We have to foster Authenticity; Confront Conformity; Introduce Wider Perspectives; Think the Unthinkable; Groom Future Leaders with the wisdom of consciousness.

Our democracy comes with responsibilities to each other and to the future generations who are still to be born. We do not, and can never, represent the sum total of all history.

Our Constitution, deep in its heart, embraces the principles of social justice and human dignity and gives us rights. It gives us the power and the tools to pursue these objectives. We must use the Constitution to enforce our people’s inalienable claim to free quality education, health, water and all other basic rights.

And yet, more than 23 years later, we have to tackle privilege and the rise of inequality. We have to fix a broken system of governance and challenge the exclusion of the vast majority of black people in our country. We have to stand up and be counted, each and every one of us. No individual, organisation or sector can do this on its own.

While there are many challenges that face us in our country, I caution especially the next generation not to throw the baby out with the bathwater. I have worked in many failed states where millions are still displaced, where rape is a weapon of war, and where recovery from war takes decades.

Let us not go there.

It’s not where the majority of our people want to go. If you want to save the country, don’t destroy it and then leave this to the next generation to rebuild, because it may never happen.

Business has to decide whether it is prepared to play the new role in shaping the future. As your own mantra has spoken;

The conscious business revolution has begun.

Conscious Companies is a South African organisation that is focused on building the value of business through business values. It has been formed to incorporate various platforms and stakeholders that evaluate, monitor and recognise businesses that incorporate and uphold intrinsic human values in their organisation.

As our founding father of our democracy once said, “A good leader is one with a good head and a good heart.” That is where we start – from the heart full with love, compassion and generosity for our fellow citizens, especially the vulnerable and our Mother Earth.

Because as he also wisely said” For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.”

With the world currently facing a leadership crisis, Afrika Tikkun challenges the notion that each generation gets the leaders it deserves by creating and developing the leaders it wants to have through its Aspiring Leadership Program (ALP).
Afrika Tikkun’s COO, Leonie van Tonder pioneered this program to benefit individuals for their personal and professional growth. It requires a lot of sacrifice as well as commitment. The six months course covered topics such as the habits of effective people, fundraising, marketing, strategic planning, legitimate leadership and many other topics created to broaden the awareness and capacity of its participants to be effective leaders and people.
“I don’t see the course as a skills development course, but as a course where people can share information with one another and ask questions they would otherwise feel stupid to ask. Through the sessions I had with the participants, I was able to share philosophies that are dear to me of practising legitimate leadership and to care for and grow people” said Leonie.

The challenging course was undertaken by participants in different professional levels of the organisation and to conclude the program the participants were tasked with various assignments. The participants applied topics covered in the course to document the current strategy, come up with new Communications Strategy and an organisational strategy for 2018. This exercise meant that those not normally involved in strategic decision making got the opportunity to influence strategy and champion it going forward.
Afrika Tikkun is especially proud of graduate, 38-year-old Phumzile Mathonsi, a gardener from Uthando Centre. This mother of six joined Afrika Tikkun in 2012 as a beneficiary of the social services department. As a way of thanking Afrika Tikkun for the support she received, she began to volunteer in the garden. The passionate gardener took a computer course while volunteering. Her ambition and determination eventually led to full-time employment for Phumzile as a gardener. When this leadership course was made available, she grasped the opportunity like a ripe fruit.

As we celebrate Women’s Month, it is important to note that young women in many township communities feel unsafe and 23 years since South Africa’s transition still fight for their right to human dignity, equality and freedom from all forms of violence. The key issue being raised is that without adult supervision (especially in Johannesburg’s overcrowded townships, where crime and gangsterism is high), young people are vulnerable not only to child neglect, but to trafficking and other forms of violence. After two incidents of attempted child kidnapping (for perceived trafficking purposes), young girls from Hillbrow have started raising awareness about the interlinked problems of child kidnapping and child neglect. One of these young people, is in fact a victim of an attempted trafficking. While she was being held, she heard her kidnapper making arrangements with the trafficker, and managed to escape thanks to her cries, which drew the attention of some passersby. Now, this young woman who prefers to remain anonymous, is being joined by her peers to speak out about a culture and cycle of extreme violence that they are witness to, “it’s not only violence of men against women, its women and men doing the abusing. Abuse is everywhere – in the family, community and in the school yards.”

In Alex, young women are campaigning against kidnapping for the purposes of rape – something which, they say they see an increase in. They are targeting their lobbying and awareness efforts at men and male children, but as part of these efforts, they will be offering self-defence sessions for women in August.

Gender violence and inequality are also key concerns for young people in Diepsloot. Many talk about seeing friends and siblings being raped by parents and caregivers, and generally high levels of violence.  One child from Diepsloot pleaded, “We shouldn’t be scared to go to the mall, because we are scared of the men that are going to hurt you. We need to be safe.  Children in schools are not doing well. They are failing because of all the things that are happening to them.”

“Kids in Diepsloot tell us it is dangerous for them to go to school because they could be mobbed at any point, held at gunpoint. They report that there is a lot of child abuse amongst parents or caregivers, uncles or family members. In Diepsloot there is so much going on that it is actually scary,” explained David Silva, youth development expert from Afrika Tikkun, the local NGO who is supporting their advocacy efforts.

Young women have too often been the victims of South Africa’s unrestrained crime problem; but given the opportunity, their lives are bursting with potential. Tinkerbell Rautheneimer of Hillbrow and Sandy Phala of Alex are just two of many girls whose dreams and solutions are being given oxygen through the empowerment and development initiatives of Afrika Tikkun. “Each day I go to school betters my chances of becoming a lawyer to be able to stand against things that are wrong in society,” declares Tinkerbell.

Sandy Phala’s hopes are also high: “My dream is to finish school with good grades so that I can study osteology and help people who suffer from bones diseases like arthritis. One day I hope to find a cure for serious diseases like cancer and make sure that the sick are cared for. I want to own many community clinics and help the existing ones with more medications.”

You can do something to support these young women’s advocacy efforts by joining them August 19, 2017 at their Annual Gender Imbizo in Alexandra (invitation attached), where they will be engaging with women to engage on key issues affecting families and communities.

END/

For info and interview requests please contact: Catherine van Schoor | catherinev@afrikatikkun.org | 072 767 1115

This is a story of a young man’s journey to self-discovery. Coming from a community where drugs and violence are a norm for young men his age, Prime Nchabeleng (17) chose a different path.

When a young boy reaches the critical pre-teen ages between 11-13 years, they look at male figures in their lives as role models but Prime took it upon himself to become his own man.

From an early age, his experience of men were close male relatives who constantly abused women. Not understanding this behaviour, he lost trust in men. He became reserved, aloof and lacked confidence. “I did not know what to do and felt helpless. I remember every time I wanted to protect these women, I was called names and told I was letting women control me”, said Prime.

At the age of 14 he made a choice to reinvent himself and enrolled into an after school programme in Diepsloot where he found that many young people had similar ambitions and dreams. Soon after joining the programme he started making friends and interacting more with his peers. “When I first came to Afrika Tikkun I thought I was going to be judged but I have since learnt to be myself. And this has allowed other people to believe in me. In return, I have learnt who I am as a person”, said Prime.

The turning point in the young man’s life came when he attended an Afrika Tikkun camp. There, he learnt that being a man means that your behaviour should never be determined by how others treat you, but by the values you hold at your core

He now attends the Child and Youth Development programme, as well as Physics and Math Saturday classes at the Wings of Life Centre. As a result, his Maths has improved and he has learnt to replace the negatives with positives by focusing on things he loves (cycling, spelling bee and dancing). Prime is dedicating his lifeto seeing the beauty that this world has to offer and this explains his dream of becoming an Astronomer.

My name is Sandy Phala and I am 13 years old. I live in Alexandra, with my mother and father. My mother works at Crowdford College as a substitute teacher and my father is an admin clerk at St Stithians.

I get up at 6 o’clock and help around the house, I sweep the floor and make breakfast for my mother and father, then prepare for school. I walk for about 30 minutes to school. I enjoy school because we do interesting activities such as physical exercises and we have a singing choir and play netball. I’m passionate about singing and I received a certificate for school choir.

After school, I go to Afrika Tikkun centre to do my homework and school project with the help of facilitators. I practice netball at the sport hall and I like that we get nice gifts.

My teacher says that I am the best reader and I don’t easily lose hope. I love Maths, English and Life Skills.

I want to be a bone doctor. My dream is to finish school with good grades so that I can study Osteology and help people who suffer from bones diseases like arthritis. One day I hope to find a cure for serious diseases like cancer and make sure that the sick are cared for. I want to own many community clinics and help the existing ones with more medications.

My idea to change the world: I want to build a flying house that goes around and fixes other houses.

Emilio Alexander, Emilio’s Gourmet Popcorn, Diepsloot, Montecasino, pencil cases, Sipho Mamize, World.