Impact Stories
Mandisa
Mandisa looks very serious until she smiles, and then the world suddenly lights up with the force of her glee. She is very pleased with the way her life is going, and has no hesitation in giving Ubuntu much of the credit. “It was a great day indeed,” she says of her meeting with Ubuntu.
Mandisa is 17 years old, in grade 11 at KwaZakhele High School. Her mother was a sex worker in Johannesburg and died of HIV when she was just seven. Mandisa went to live with her grandfather and his girlfriend, whom she calls her mother. The grandfather sexually abused her for four years before she told anyone about it. After he was arrested, the family income went down, and she moved to a poorer school, where she encountered an Ubuntu counselor in a life skills class. She was in the class because she was very withdrawn but also aggressive and acting out. This meeting started her association with Ubuntu, and since then she has gone from strength to strength.
Along with counseling, Ubuntu has provided Mandisa with school fees, weekend food parcels, school uniforms, holiday camps, and after-school activities. In 2009 she was crowned Miss Ubuntu. In 2010, she went to Johannesburg for a maths camp in March, and then in June she was part of the Global Girls Media Programme. Her group attended the World Cup and documented it in words, pictures and film. She is not shy about announcing that the Ubuntu girls excelled in all three.
In 2010 Mandisa travelled to New York to speak at the Ubuntu gala and received a standing ovation from 600 people, which is an unsurprising fact for anyone who knows her. She loved New York and pronounced it “a very busy place.” Since then, she has been active in Ubuntu’s after-school activities and is particularly enthusiastic about drama and creative thinking. She is excelling in school and talks with satisfaction about how she knew more than her teacher in accounting class one day.
Mandisa brims with life and ambition: “It is media for me!” She started writing as a way to deal with her emotions, but when Ubuntu Founder Banks Gwaxula encouraged her to write for others, she discovered her calling. She has stories to tell and she is determined to tell them.
Noluvo
Noluvo lives with her mother and little brother. She started at Ubuntu in 2008, when she was in grade 9. She was chosen because she was an outstanding learner. Ubuntu provided immediate relief to her family because her mother was not working and couldn’t afford school fees.
She went to camps and peer education, and loved it all. “We were inspired, man.”
In 2010, in the old Ubuntu building, she did classes like maths, English, baking, drama. Drama was her favorite. She also took computer classes and is now familiar with all the Microsoft Office programs.
In February, she won recognition for her essay on how to change the community with regard to AIDS. She went to Cape Town for a university visit. “I was so nervous on the flight. My classmate was crying.”
Noluvo wants to study media and become a public relations officer.
“Ubuntu really works for us,” she says, listing all the things she gets here: shoes, books, clinic services, holiday camps…and optimism.
Nkosazana
Nkosazana’s father died of AIDS when she was eight years old. Soon after his death, her mother, who was also HIV-positive, brought Nkosazana to Ubuntu to attend holiday camps and after-school programs. The community at Ubuntu became a second family for Nkosazana.
Nkosazana’s life changed when she was introduced to poetry at camp. Through poetry she has learned to express herself and gain confidence by performing for other students. She says that poetry is in her veins, and the only way she knows how to live is as a poet.
Ubuntu programs have also improved Nkosazana’s academic performance. Though she used to struggle in math, she is now one of the top six math students in her grade. Nkosazana, now 17, hopes to attend university abroad to prepare for her two careers: as a chemist and a poet.
Akhona
Akhona was born HIV-positive. His parents, however, never told him. At Ubuntu’s holiday camps he learned about HIV without realizing how it affected him personally. One day at the local clinic, he overheard his mother speaking with the doctor and realized that he had the virus. He kept this revelation quiet, feeling shocked and isolated. For Akhona, the most devastating aspect was that he thought he could never become a man. When Xhosa boys turn 18, they take a trip into the bush where they are circumcised, officially becoming men. It is a great source of pride for the boys and men of the community. Akhona, however, thought that HIV-positive boys could not be circumcised and therefore could not be men. (Ubuntu has since started working with tribal elders who lead the initiation rites to ensure safety and guard against the transmission of HIV.)
One afternoon during an Ubuntu after-school program, students performed a play about the role of HIV in their community. In the play, the students explained that HIV-positive boys could participate in the traditional initiation ceremony just like everyone else. It was the best news Akhona had ever heard. He rushed home that evening, burst into his house and proudly announced to his mother, “I am HIV-positive, but I can still become a man!”
