UNIVERSITY FUND

I am a 38 year old father, brother and son who has a lifelong dream to complete a post school qualification.

I am a second year student at the University of Fort Hare in Alice, Eastern Cape, South Africa studying towards a degree in Public Administration and Political Science. I live in a country with approximately 10 million citizens who are unemployed, a 65% of whom are the youth. A majority of youth who, like million other people have had to give up their dream of bettering their futures and sought work to sustain their families.

A country with more than 30 million people living in abject poverty and surviving under $75 per month. This a country listed as one of the most unequal societies in the world. A country where graduates with sit at home with no prospects of a brighter future.

I live in a South Africa that continues to be bleak. Education has become a very necessary commodity for survival. Above all, South Africa needs the kind of citizens who do not only want to graduate for personal interests. South Africa needs citizens who will open up their hearts and extend their resources to their immediate communities in order to self-sustain. 

The government has relentlessly urged its citizens to do things for themselves. This is not to absolve the state from it’s responsibility to serve and service its own people but a clarion call to citizens to work hand-in-hand with the government to develop the country. 

With that, the government has established various funding models to respond to the need for financial backing to students who come from disadvantaged and poor backgrounds. It is no secret that it’s not enough to accommodate every financially needy citizen that wishes to upskill. For that reason, millions of us find themselves out in the cold with no hope. 

This is my humble call to the community at large to appeal to your spirit of Ubuntu and lend me your hand in supporting my dream. The government decided to unfund more than 29000 of during the lockdown as they say that their purse can no longer accommodate us all during these trying times. In South Africa, we are in the middle of the academic year and typically there are no bursary applications opened for the standing year. In order to be funded by a Bursary for 2020, I would have had to apply in 2019. In essence, I can only apply later this year in order to qualify for 2021 bursaries. 

In short of saying, I am left with a debt of R105K which I will never afford to pay or reduce to the required amount in order to be allowed entry into the University in 2021. Please see my profile photo, a copy of my total amount owed to the institution. I am a passing student who has not failed a single module ever since I entered the university. I am willing to produce my original academic record and original statement of monies owed to the university

I am not a man of many words, those who know me well can attest that I am selfless person. Therefore you can be assured that with your donation, you will be paying it forward. Many thanks in advance!!