I had never really considered my reasons for donating to Rhodes University before now and so this account will be far from eloquent.
I think first and fore most it is because Rhodes University is my Alma Mater! It is where I got my tertiary education and my very first experience of academic life. Being from Port Elizabeth, it was close enough to my home and yet far away enough from the madding crowd!!! Beit House was like home, something I needed in that very scary yet exciting first year of tertiary education. We were safe and nurtured. I would like that legacy to live on for my own children to experience.
The idea of contributing to one’s old university appealed to me. This is probably because of both my cultural upbringing and Christian values. African people are raised to believe very strongly in the concept of Ubuntu. “I am because you are”. In the western culture this can be related to the concept of “paying it forward”. It is my humble opinion that if those of us who can were to give more in this way, the levels of literacy would grow, this would have a positive spin off for our economy and the benefits of that are ENDLESS!!!