ForAfrika, the largest African humanitarian and development organisation, reached 3.1-million people in 2022. It is on track to do even more in 2023.
“There’s an African concept that underpins everything we do, and it’s part of our heritage. It’s ubuntu, the idea that, ‘I am because we all are,’” says ForAfrika CEO Isak Pretorius in the run-up to South Africa’s Heritage Day, celebrating one of the most culturally diverse countries in the world, on 24 September.
ForAfrika provides emergency assistance, water, food, health, education and economic empowerment services. Ubuntu has threaded through every action taken since it was started by South African Peter Pretorius in 1984, when he was overwhelmed with compassion for and unity with Mozambicans displaced by that country’s civil war.
“Ubuntu is there to be seen in our deep love for Africa and our African brothers and sisters. Africa is our home. Africans are our family. Ubuntu is what has led us through the nearly 40 years since my father started ForAfrika,” says Pretorius.
Working with African communities to realise their plans and reach their goals, ForAfrika reached 3.1-million people across seven African countries in 2022. It plans to exceed this amount in 2023 and by the end of August 2023, it had reached at least 2.9 million people through its activities.
“The more we all embrace the idea of ubuntu this Heritage Month, when we should be reflecting on who we are and what we believe in, the more we can do for others. And at ForAfrika, that’s our enduring aim,” says Pretorius.
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