Get involved!

“Being part of Masizikhulise has taught me invaluable lessons about leadership, social responsibility and so many other things they sometimes neglect to teach in lectures. Joining a project is probably one of the best things you can do for yourself in your short university career, you won't regret it, believe me, I know!”

Gugu Mdladla, Masizikhulise student volunteer 2003

“I think that being in SHAWCO is my small way of influencing my immediate environment! In a world where war, violence, crime and poverty are rife it is important to be involved in initiatives that uplift and empower those not as fortunate as ourselves. It is also a good learning tool in terms of skills learnt, interacting with different people from all kinds of backgrounds and being involved and committed to something of this nature is a good tool for self-growth!”

Zoleka Lisa, Masizikhulise student volunteer 2003

“We were active in SHAWCO in the late 1950's and early 1960's. That was a time when apartheid was tightening its grip on the country and the government was forcing it onto the Universities as well. We both started as student volunteers in the field and later served on the SHAWCO Board. Even though social and racial tensions were becoming sharper and sharper everywhere else, none of those we tried to help in the townships ever doubted the sincerity and good faith of the student volunteers. They felt instinctively that SHAWCO's main driving force was the expression of a common humanity, and appreciated particularly that this drive came from successive generations of young people prepared to take responsibility for doing what they knew was right. What we were able to do for the victims of apartheid was little enough, and sometimes we felt it might be doing more for us than for them, but the experience has stayed with us vividly over the years, as we developed our different lives and careers in different countries.”

Sir Franklin Berman, Robert Berman [Robert Berman is a Harvard Business School graduate and runs his own manufacturing company in California ; Franklin Berman is a Rhodes Scholar and retired British diplomat who now practices law and teaches international law at Oxford and UCT]