Sawabona Africa and Uthando (love): our partnership
Zilla Stekhoven: Founder of Sawabona Africa
Flying into Cape Town International Airport gives you the first glance of the breadth of experience, which awaits you. The pilots often give you an aerial view of the coastline and Table Mountain, and as you get closer to the airport you catch a glimpse of the massive townships almost backing onto the runway. This is where our partner charity Uthando (love) South Africa is making a meaningful contribution. Read this blog to find out more.
In South Africa, the terms ‘’township’’ or ‘’location’’ usually refer to the often underdeveloped racially segregated urban areas that, from the late 19th century until the end of apartheid, were reserved for non-whites, namely Black Africans, Coloureds and Indians. Townships were usually built on the periphery of towns and cities.’’ Many townships are under-resourced and face many social challenges and obstacles e.g. high unemployment and food insecurity. 1
Uthando (love)’s work in the townships of Cape Town
Uthando (love) South Africa (hereafter Uthando (love)) founded by James Fernie, is a Cape Town based non-profit and an award-winning model of Responsible Tourism and Philanthropy. Uthando (love) is connecting an extensive network of international tourism partnerships to meaningful local community development initiatives in the townships of Cape Town.
Uthando (love) takes tourists on an alternative to the classic township tour – Philanthropic Educational Excursions. Their philanthropic educational excursions shine a light and raise funds for community development projects to which they can donate.
James speaks of how incredibly proud he is of the of the truly resilient, courageous, kind, inspiring and innovative community development projects and social entrepreneurs who are building their respective communities in Cape Town despite enormous challenges and obstacles. He has a deep and sincere desire to share these stories with the world, touching people’s hearts and motivating investment so that they can flourish and expand their impact.
Our partnership with Uthando
With Uthando we have found an organisation that shares our value or values and helps where help is needed – directly in the Townships of Cape Town. Currently Sawabona Africa supports 5 projects focussed on education and skills development:
The Pebbles Project provides children from farming communities access quality education programmes, health, nutrition and social work services.
Abalami Bezekhaya develops small scale urban organic farming skills to locals in townships to help them grow their own vegetables and tackle food insecurity.
Learn to Earn is a skills development and job creation organisation develop skills to help unemployed people find meaningful employment and build life skills. Such skills include sewing, baking and office admin skills.
The Amy Foundation develops and empowers youth through afterschool and skills development programmes
The Goal50 ECD (Early Childhood Development) Centre will be built from tyres, plastic bottles filled with rubbish (eco bricks), polyurethane film set waste blocks and recycled materials.
Donors in Germany can also visit all the projects and book philanthropic excursions with Uthando through tour operators. Once such organisation is Wildlife culture tours who actively support our projects.
Together, we can make a lasting difference. Join us in
supporting these worthy causes today.
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Township_(South_Africa)
