Luthando Kolwapi is determined to equip the youth for employment, one book at a time
BY Nkosazana Ngwadla
Plettenberg Bay is a seaside town on the Garden Route in the Western Cape. While many have luxurious vacation homes and choose to spend their retirement in ‘Plett’, the sad reality is that there are many who still live in extreme poverty and face high unemployment.
Luthando Kolwapi, 28, grew up in this part of the world, and although his mother made sure she provided him and his siblings with the best education, the unemployment and racial segregation troubled him.
“I was always baffled by the high levels of inequality. Unfortunately, the apartheid spatial and economic structure is still strongly present: Where white people are rich and live in suburbs, and black people are poor and live in townships. Therefore, growing up around this environment made me question why this is, and how can I also have the same access to opportunities that my fellow white counterparts did?” Luthando tells us.
Education and Upskilling is the key to success
After completing primary school, Luthando was awarded a full scholarship to attend Oakhill School, a private high school in Knysna. “This is where I excelled and valued the importance of independent thought,” he says.
He then went on to major in International Relations and Public Policy at the University of Cape Town before obtaining his honours degree in political communications. While studying in 2014, Luthando founded Edu-Plett, intending to use skills and education training to equip young people for employment or starting their own businesses. The vision is for the interventions to reduce the high rate of unemployment in South Africa.
“So far, the organisation has grown gradually since its inception. We have recruited and trained over 700 participants. We have also offered many skills from agriculture, office administration, community care workers, plumbing skills and many more,” he tells The Fuse.
In 2018, he challenged himself by applying for the prestigious Chevening Scholarship funded by the British Government.
“Unfortunately, I was rejected for the scholarship. But because I knew how much I wanted this, I decided to apply again the following year in 2019, and that’s when I was approved for the scholarship. I went on to do my master’s degree at the London School of Economics in Media & Communications Governance,” he says proudly.
“We never talk about the number of rejections we get through our journey, instead we focus heavily on successes. It is critical that we know failure and rejection are part and parcel of success,” Luthando stresses.
Books for Africa
A few years later, Luthando now works at the City of Tshwane in the Mayor’s office as a deputy director within the governance unit. He is responsible for oversight over Tshwane’s Municipal Entities. But with all that he’s accomplished, the poverty and unemployment in this country still bother him.
Luthando was recently selected for the 2022 Mandela Washington Fellowship and was placed at the University of Minnesota. The objective of the fellowship is to foster developmental relationships with future leaders on the African continent.
“During my stay in the United States, I had the opportunity to meet with a great organisation, Books for Africa. The organisation remains the largest shipper of donated text and library books to the African continent, shipping over 54 million books to all 55 countries on the African continent since 1988,” Luthando says passionately.
“Last year alone, Books for Africa shipped 3.1 million books, valued at over $26.2 million, and 224 computers and e-readers containing over 885,000 digital books, to 28 African countries. More than $3.1 million was raised last year to ship these books to the students of Africa. We have now formed a relationship and they have committed to donating a container filled with 22 000 books, accompanied by computers,” he adds.
But there’s still more legwork to be done, “The books and computers will be used to set up a youth learning centre. The rest of the books will be donated to schools and libraries. For us to get this donation to South Africa, we need to cover the shipping costs. We are currently fundraising for shipping, setting up costs and operational costs for a year. Therefore, we need your help by donating to our crowdfunding campaign.”
To donate, visit https://www.backabuddy.co.za/champion/project/edu-plett
Get in touch with Luthando: luthandokolwapi@gmail.com
