Education South Africa Project #57248

Ubuntu Education Fund

by Ubuntu Partners Trust

Project Report | May 26, 2026
Sticks in a Bundle: Strength in Collaboration

By Barbara Borgman | Manager Ubuntu Education Fund

Inspired Hope Director meeting Khumalo family

Step Stool Where Needed was the title of our last report. About four of our KCV alumni, some complelety on their own but not doing that well. are in need of intervention and ongoing support,

So, to trial a whole new idea of offering a step stool where needed, Ubunetu Partners Trust entered into a collaborative relationship with iNSPIRED HOPE a local NGO supporting the most poor families in the location near Winterton.. They support with assessment, accountability and food parcels. garden knowledge and seedlings, skills training, counseling for dismotivated families or individuals.....and lots of pastoral prayer and wisdom..

In reaching the end of the accountability support UPEF is able to give our most needy family, even with excellent mentoring and love relationship, we are grateful for Inspired Hope's inception and vision, for their willinness to reach out over the 55 kilometer distance to Loskop, expanding their radiius of impact,.

Ubuntu Education provides funds for their professional work with the struggling family Khumalo, and especially 19 year old Kwanele Khumalo. Also,we are pleased to introduce Inspired Hope into Loskop where there are many loyal community allies wanting to help in any way they can..

We know sticks bundled together are stronger than individual sticks working alone. Some family or individual situations are so dire that it takes a bundle to make a difference.

In this way, we are hopeful that this Stepping Stool we've found will provide a future for Kwanele and his family. It will be over many months, a long haul, but we'll go that distance together. with the vision for Families to Thrive At Home.

Thank you Inspired Hope!

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Feb 13, 2026
Step Stools Where Needed

By Barbara T Borgman | UPEFund Manager

step up to an office job

Sixteen years after Ubuntu Education fundind the first high school graduate from Kwethu Childrne's Village, we take a moment to review the various challenges some students have had in accomplishing their goal. Each challenge has needed a kind of 'step stool' support getting the learner over the 'hump'..

Sometimes it was to change schools, from university to training center., or from a commmunity college to a trade school. Sometimes the solution was tutoring/mentoring. Sometimes it was staying out of school for awhile to regroup. Always we have stayed in connection with the young person.

In supporting the last teen from KCV towards independence , it means collaborting with another organization to strengthen the outcome for him and his family. We are so pleased to have opened dialogue with Inspired Hope/Winterton, to work together to address chronic adversity in the Khumalo family. We are discussing a whole new outreach of support for orphans in Loskop, using Inspired Hope's programs, excellent staff, and Asset Based Evaluation to create a support group and net of help.

We haven't dropped the intractabe cases . We have reached out to collaborate in a social situation characterized by failure, alcoholism, despair and being forgotten by any agencies except those based on Hope, Faith and Love.

Ubuntu Partners Trust and one of its sub- projects, Ubuntu Education Fund, have proved to be irreplaceable stepping stools to success for individuals and families that have slid to the bottom. With support of our loyal donors, we can provide modest financial resources to help out with any stepping stool solution.

And we have high fliers whose wings are strong! Three of our young KCV adults who acquired coveted Trade Certificate in Electricity have worked hard to find jobs. They have discovered they must have Drivers Licenses to be hireable in the highly competitive market place in Johannesberg. So UPEF is currently sponsoring those licenses.. Another young non-KCV woman acuqired a certificate in Office Managment, enrolling now for a diploma for Managment Assistant. Her stepping stool was need for daily taxi transport for two years.

We are anticipating a new structure for Ubuntu Education which we will share with you once we design it. Whatever It is , we will be supporting wonderful , capable young South African who are impoverished or orphaned, to reach for their future. with strong wings.

Step up to a drivvers license

Step up to a drivers license

Step up on the first rung to a future

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Oct 17, 2025
Cement in the Hair and under the Nails

By Barbara Borgman | UPEFund Manager

We were delivering the monthly groceries , funded by our Education Fund, for the two school children and their indigent mother in Loskop last week. These are special children to us, as they are the last of the Agathos/Kwethu kids to whom we've promised support toward an independent future.

I was surprised to find teenager Kwanele with cement splashes on his arms, and flecks in his hair, with a huge smile on his face. He was proud of his plastering job, covering hard dirt patches of floor between old cracked cement patches in his bedroom and then, the kitchen. The tiny kitchen of the house he shares with his sister and mother slants toward the door, furnished with decrepit table and ancient cupboards, caked with old dirt. " I got tired of the messy floor. I asked 'gogo' ( his grandmother) for cement to plaster the walls and floors of our house." he smiled broadly. I looked around and asked, "Have you done this before?"

He shakes his head no and indeed, I wondered how long the cement would last. That didn't seem as important as his initiative. I was impressed and think to myself. Kwanele is making some good choices.

What's different in his life from two years ago? Ubuntu Education Fund, your donations, has been supporting him, the main goal being to influence this young man's choices towards success. This year, he was encouraged by the supportive school principal, to drop back to Grade 11, so he has a better chance to pass Grade 12 in 2026. It was a hard decision, as he had to leave all his friends. His mentor, Mem Mbongwa, counseled him, "It s time for you to think about yourself and what is best for YOU!" That choice led to his making a choice to move away from his family, mom and sister. He will live at the Kwethu Independent Dorm under the wing of Mr and Mrs Mbongwa next year. UPEF will continue to fund him.

One good choice led to another, and today this plastering, rough as it was sent me a wonderful message: I am confident, II am proud of what I can try, and I can help my family by my choices.

We are so thankful to have your support with donations that have made a turning point moment in this young man's life.

We'll keep you plastered, oops, posted.

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