Africa sings to my heart and soul, but never have I seen so much love than that spread by the Philanthropic Educational Excursions of Uthando South Africa. Responsible Tourism and Fair Trade at the heart of all they do.
Returning to South Africa & Its Heart
After 31 years, I was back in South Africa, albeit a different part of South Africa – Cape Town and the Western Cape, rather than Johannesburg and Kruger National Park. The last time I was here, apartheid had just come to an end, and to a kid from Canada who was brought up in multicultural environment of mutual respect, the racism I witnessed in South Africa at that time, was evident and jarring, particularly in Johannesburg. I was curious on this trip to discover how the country had changed in the past three decades, and to learn more about apartheid, what people had gone through, and how it was still impacting the people and the country today.
Yes, I wanted to experience the wildlife of South Africa too, but I also wanted to discover the real culture of South Africa, not the white washed version shown to tourists and those coming to South Africa for business, as I was.
Was Cape Town Safe to Explore on My Own as a Woman?
The problem was, I wasn’t really sure how to do that. Before my conference, I’d be on my own. Was it safe for me to rent a car and drive around on my own? Was it safe for me to go walkabout around the city on my own? Three decades ago in Johannesburg, it had not been, but how about now in Cape Town. Inevitably, the answer was “yes” and “no”.
Yes, I could rent a car and drive out to the Western Cape and other areas outside Cape Town, preferably during daylight hours, but no, the many of the South African Townships outside of Cape Town are not safe to visit on your own. Yes, it was safe for me to walk around many Cape Town’s neighbourhoods during the day, but not with my camera out, and preferably walking with purpose. No, I shouldn’t walk alone at night, but get an uber. Yes, hiking on my own was safe in many areas on the Western Cape, but in Cape Town it was recommended that you hike with others, due to scams at the trailheads.
Discovering Uthando (Love) South Africa
In checking in with a friend, Uthando South Africa, was recommended to me to see and learn about South Africa, beyond Cape Town, in the South African Townships. In looking Uthando South Africa up, I discovered that they are a non-profit organization that works to help fund community development and social enterprises in the South African Townships to create safe spaces away from the gangs, for people of all ages to learn, have a safe haven, look after their wellbeing, and create income and a better, more sustainable future for themselves in which to thrive.
Uthando South Africa’s Philanthropic Educational Excursions take people to visit and learn about these community development projects and social enterprises, which range from schools, to community gardens, to elder care, to the arts, to entrepreneurial enterprises, and more. Rather than pay for an educational experience, you are donating to support these social good enterprises, and you have the choice of picking specific organisations for your donation to go to or to let Uthando South Africa spread your donation out between organisations.
Importantly in participating in a philanthropic educational excursions with Uthando South Africa, you are not participating in voyeurism tourism or intrusive tourism, gawking at people in poverty. Rather, you are helping them in their work to impact change, learning about the good work being done and celebrating the success of the community development projects and social enterprises that Uthando South Africa helps to support. While Uthando South Africa’s Philanthropic Guides share the history and realities that have shaped the South African Townships with their guests, you are told that while you are welcome to take pictures and share the stories from within the community development projects and social enterprises that we visit together, you are not to take pictures of the people on the streets or wandering around the neighbourhoods outside of the social enterprises we visit. Also in visiting the schools, while you can talk to the children and take pictures, when permitted by the teachers, you are a visitor and should not be picking up the children. While this may seem like a given in human decency and social etiquette, in the age of social media and selfies, unfortunately this needs to be said to ensure that in bringing people to these community projects, that they are not becoming part of the problem. They also only ever visit any given school once in a week, so as not to disrupt the learning there.
History of South Africa’s Townships
Let’s start with a bit of history. Apartheid was a policy that governed relations between South Africa’s white minority and nonwhite majority from 1948 – May 4, 1990, sanctioning racial segregation, and political and economic discrimination against non-whites. As a part of this, in 1950 the Group Areas Act was enacted, which empowered the Governor-General to designate land for the sole use of a specific race, displacing non-white people living in areas newly designated as white only neighbourhoods to neighbourhoods that the government designated for their racial group. Often this meant segregated townships. Townships in South Africa are areas on the periphery of a town or city, that at the time of apartheid were typically poor and overcrowded, and were deliberately underfunded with limited infrastructure and resources. Although the legislation that formed the foundation of apartheid was repealed in 1990, the social and economic repercussions of the discriminatory policy persist in South Africa, creating drastically different economic, education, and employment realities for South African citizens – a have and have not system.
While segregation no longer exists legislatively, many of the problems of limited infrastructure and resources still exist in the townships, as do people living in extreme poverty, facing daily struggles to survive, let alone thrive. With gangs and gang violence active in the townships, for many youth, this seems like the only option, initiating children as young as 12 and 13.
There are also many unsung heroes in the townships, helping with community development initiatives and creating social enterprises that give people save havens away from the gangs, hope and different opportunities for the future. It is these unsung heroes that Uthando South Africa is finding and working with to help fund a better future for people of all ages.
Responsible Tourism / Fair Trade in Tourism
Meaning ‘love’, Uthando South Africa is an award-winning, Fair Trade in Tourism certified, non-profit organisation, creating a link between tourism and community development.
Being Fair Trade in Tourism certified means that an organisation has the wellbeing of people and the planet at heart, and is committed to the 6 Fair Trade Tourism principles – fair share, fair say, respect, reliability, transparency, and sustainability. Uthando South Africa is this and more, adding in a few additional principles of their own, including honesty, commitment, and empowerment.
Motivated by love, compassion, and respect for our common humanity, Uthando South Africa works to be part of the solution in helping create hope, uplift people and build security and sustainability in people’s futures. They use tourism to do this by inviting tourists into the townships to share in the people there’s stories, through the different community development projects and social enterprises that they work with. Ultimately, these respectful, life-changing Philanthropic Educational Excursions allow Uthando guests to experience South Africa’s unique spirit of Ubuntu, “I am because we are”.
Uthando South Africa’s award-winning model for traveling philanthropy is responsible tourism – tourism that gives back to the country and supports the community. Supporting more than 50 community development projects and social enterprises, Uthando draws on an extensive network of cherished partnerships in tourism and community development, with the goal of linking these two sectors in a myriad of innovative, sincere and meaningful ways. They are not just there for a singular grant, but are there long term, finding ways to help the organisations they support to innovate, thrive, and grow sustainably.
Visiting Community Development Projects & Social Enterprises With Uthando South Africa
I was fortunate to visit a number of different community development projects and social enterprises with Uthando South Africa on two different days. It filled me with hope and awe at seeing people innovate and build programs and enterprises of beauty with heart, programs that give people safe spaces and allowed them to thrive and chase dreams.
We discovered how SEED is building life skills, belonging and resilience for people of all ages, through permaculture training, while making the space and providing them the sustenance to thrive in this nursery to farm to table social and educational enterprise.
We were invited into two of the schools that Uthando South Africa is working with, Ulwazi Educare and Zizmele Educare, seeing happy children learning at play in safe and wonderfully fun and creative spaces. I was particularly wowed by how Uthando South Africa is taking recycled items, like tires and pop bottles, and are using them as building supplies to create sustainable, affordable, whimsical and functional school buildings. Best of all, they are getting the kids and the communities to help with the collection and building process, making this their project and a school that they built.
We enjoyed a homegrown tea and medicinal plant walk with Mzi at Lerhotholi Food and Herbal Garden, and learned how he and his mom are helping teach the people in Langa how they can turn the earth around them into thriving gardens to feed themselves and the community.
Finally we drummed and sang with the artists at eKhaya eKasi Art & Education Centre, a non-profit organisation based in Khayelitsha. They support the economic development of women and children through promoting education, well-being, and creativity; providing a community resource and oasis of hope for families impacted by extreme poverty. There they foster a strong ethos of helping people to help themselves by encouraging self-expression and self-love, while making crafts to sell. We felt that love and self-expression ourselves in the all too short time that we were invited to create with them.
I think my favourite memory though, was of a young lad who came over to chat with me as I hung back to give a film crew space to work on our visit to the teaching and growing garden at SEED. He was fascinated by my cameras, so while the others were busy with their filming, he and I quietly chatted and I taught him how to do a little filming of his own. It was a delight to watch him experiment with the camera, camera angles, framing his shots, and zooming in and out. I really wish I’d brought my old cameras with me, as I would have loved to have given him a camera to take home with him, so he could continue to experiment with the craft. When I hopefully return one day, I will do that, and if I can’t find that boy again, perhaps I can find his school or a Uthando South Africa supported program to donate them to.
Say “Yes” to Uthando South Africa
In visiting Cape Town and discovering Uthando South Africa, I not only had my eyes opened to both the huge social inequities that exist in South Africa and ways that I can help, both with my tourism dollars and by helping to support the good works of Uthando South Africa and the amazing social good organisations they support from here at home, but I was given hope, connected with inspiring individuals and organisations, and made friends. James Fernie, the Founding Director of Uthando South Africa, and a whirlwind of ideas for spreading love and creating hope, is a connector. He saw something in me and I saw something in him, which lead to invitations to join them at other events. If he ever extends an invitation to you, the answer is a resounding “YES!”. How I wish I could have said yes, to all he invited me to. I couldn’t, due to the Interledger Summit that had brought me to South Africa, but those invitations that I did say “YES” to lead to warm welcomes and me being embraced as a member of the community, and making many new and cherished friends.
Understanding the Realities in South Africa
Those YESes also lead me to understanding the issues more deeply. I kept meeting people that were working towards sustainability, financially as well as environmentally. Creating solutions for such financial sustainability, particularly to build diversity, equity and inclusion is the work I do in the Interledger Foundation Community, the work that had me in South Africa. Which meant that I started inviting a number of people and organisations that I met through Uthando South Africa to the Interledger Summit, as these were exactly the people and organisations who we were creating these new sustainable financial solutions for. The problem? Even though I could get them their tickets to the Summit and all the associated events for free, it’s not that easy for people from the townships to get to Cape Town, let alone to the manufactured, upscale neighbourhood of Century City, where the Summit was being held. Aside from the time in getting there, the public bus trip to Cape Town alone, not to mention the uber to Century City, is a sizeable chunk of many people in the township’s monthly budget. My thanks and appreciation to Uthando’s Philanthropic Guide Xolani Maseko for taking the time and patience to explain these realities to me. This catalysed another idea for me in connecting Uthando South Africa and the amazing organisations they work with, with some of my colleagues from the Interledger Foundation Community to do good and spread love and hope together in the future. That though, is a story for another day.
With any luck, maybe in the future, I can join them in South Africa again, and help as James would say “to spread Uthando, to spread Love” with them again. In the meantime I will work on ways to spread Uthando / Love with them from afar. Reach out if you wish to join me.
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