Photo: Ubuntu Pathways
It’s been almost three decades since the end of apartheid, but its legacy of inequality is still in evidence.
For many young children, it is still the sad reality that their birthplace will determine their future.
Vast oceans of government money which could have been used to turn around that situation have been stolen and squandered.
And the problem of young people – as well as the despair they feel when they realise there is little hope in their future – seems to be getting worse.
That’s why private projects – like the Ubuntu Pathways project in a poor area of Gqeberha – may be a vital way of bridging the gap between the poor and better-off, especially in the area of schooling.
Funded by philanthropists and local companies, the project focuses on children from the area, as well as HIV-positive mothers.
Its centre offers healthcare and education, as well as helping out local residents with food packages at the end of every month.
Perhaps Ubuntu Pathways is a tiny drop of help in a vast ocean of poverty and perhaps we should be relying on more than just charity.
But it is a start and it will help some to the mythical better life.