UBUNTU gala raises over £650K To support orphans

LONDON, 13 May. - (ANA) - Over 350 people attended the 9th annual London Growing Up Gala last night in London in support of Ubuntu Education Fund, a non-profit organisation that provides household stability, health, and educational services to 2,000 children and their families in Port Elizabeth’s townships. Hosted at the iconic Roundhouse, the gala celebrated seventeen years of transformative community development and launched a bold vision for the organisation’s future. The funds raised will support Ubuntu’s early childhood development programme, vocational training programmes, and the Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission programme for HIV-positive mothers.

The event was energized by an electrifying performance by The Faithettes as well as Vula Malinga, London based South African singer and Basement Jaxx collaborator.

This year’s theme of “growing up” showcased Ubuntu’s innovative cradle to career approach to overcoming the hardships facing Port Elizabeth’s children. In a powerful performance piece with the Sandileart and The Zulu Tradition Group, seventeen-year old Zanele Nobadula shared her struggles of growing up in the townships and the impact of Ubuntu on her life: “Ubuntu lifted me up. It lifts up my community, to reach the height of success. My life will be different, and because of that, the next generation will grow up with more opportunity, hope and promise of a future. That’s what it means to grow up with Ubuntu.”

Nedbank Managing Executive and Ubuntu Board Member, Ciko Thomas, spoke about his own experiences of finding success despite growing up in the townships. Mr. Thomas remarked: “I was born in a poor township in Port Elizabeth. Today, I am a managing executive of a major bank. The reason I can introduce myself this way is because I got a break. When people get a break they have agency over their lives. Ubuntu is there to provide that opportunity to the children from my home community. Ubuntu exists because people like yourselves open their hearts and together we are helping the kids that come to Ubuntu become agents of positive social change. “

CEO and Founder, Jacob Lief, challenged the audience: “When raising a child we never say ‘that’s enough’ we ask, ‘what more can we do?’ The Ubuntu Model is not about providing 100,000 kids with cups of soup and wind-up computers; it has to be about what it truly takes to change a child’s life. We are fueled by the belief that our children at Ubuntu deserve what children all around the world deserve, and that’s everything. An individual’s pathway is a blueprint towards a transformed community. Our five-year strategy, Vision 2020, will complete the pathway and amplify our model.’

“I know that our model works. Our children came to us abused and orphaned. Today they are performing surgeries at the top hospitals in the country, writing code for new innovations, working the factory lines of the Eastern Cape, and building robots in our after-school program. This is what happens when you invest in a child every day of their lives.”

The evening was capped off by a live auction of spectacular trips/items including:
Tickets to 2016 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, Milan Fashion Week with private jet flights donated by Jetfly, the Monza Grand Prix; David Bowie memorabilia; and luxury trips to South Africa.

Ubuntu Education Fund is a nonprofit organisation dedicated to providing orphaned and vulnerable children in the townships of Port Elizabeth, South Africa, with world-class health, educational and social support from cradle to career. Ubuntu currently provides more than 2,000 children and their family members with holistic, community-led services to ensure that each child can grow into a healthy and successful adult.  - (ANA) -

AB/ANA/ 13 May 2016 - - -