2. James Fernie, Uthando (Love), Cape Town, South Africa.

The ladies of project NOAH singing "happy birthday" to me in English, despite our language differences. Best gift I've ever received.

A mutual friend put James and I in touch, and as luck would have it, I celebrated my favorite birthday yet with him.  James is the founding director of Uthando, a non-profit company, which aims to create a bridge between tourism and development.  James brought me to visit several of his projects, but my favorite Uthando community development was the Neighborhood Old Age Homes, or NOAH, a program providing a community center as well as medical facilities for the elderly.

There I had the opportunity to sit and have a (translated) conversation with the NOAH participants and apartheid survivors. When he mentioned it was my birthday, every one of them jumped up to perform the liveliest Happy Birthday performance I have ever witnessed.  While I was already soggy eyed, what touched me most is the deep mutual respect that James and the people touched by his projects have for one another.

When I asked James about the project he was most proud of, he of course wouldn’t say.  But he did mention that the elders of the NOAH program recently honored him,

“This is a huge step for a white guy to receive from folks who lived through the apartheid.”

A young pre-school student assisted by Uthando, Cape Town, South Africa.

Tourism is the biggest industry in the Western Cape and thus has a critical role community development. Growing up in South Africa during the 1980’s, James developed a deep sense of compassion for the people victimized by the cruel system of Apartheid.  In the new democratic South Africa, the new form of apartheid is poverty, a system imprisoning millions of people in cycle of destitution, fear and hopelessness. James wants to do what he can to make a powerful and positive difference in building South Africa. What I loved about my visit with James, was his ability to take travelers like myself to visit areas where the majority of the population are living, to learn about the issues confronting them and discover their remarkable stories.  Even more inspiring is to witness what the adversities these people face everyday and the positive energy and hard work they invest to break the cycle.

Visitors can assist:  By supporting the Uthando tours when visitors come to Cape Town, by donating to one of the many projects listed on the Uthando website, or by joining one of Uthando’s prime partners in the USA, the Global Sojourns Giving Circle who invest in Uthando’s work in South Africa.

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