The Ju/’hoansi Development Fund is a grassroots organization supporting the Ju/’hoansi Bushmen and their cultural environment in the Nyae Nyae Conservancy, Namibia. A non-profit organization in Namibia and The Netherlands, the fund was founded in 2007 by /Ui Kunta and David Bruce.

As a result of their friendship and /Ui’s passion for education, the fund was set up to further the development of San educational in the Nyae Nyae region. Working with donors and a school in the Netherlands, we started small, our priority was delivering learning materials to Ju/’hoan schools in the region.

We provide the Tsumkwe primary and secondary school and the village schools with school books and other learning materials. We also wanted to support Ju/hoan students in tertiary education. The reality was we were only able to train one teacher (Calvin Kazibe) at the Windhoek College of Education, the only Bushmen to pass Grade 12 in eight years of the JDF’s existence.

 

/Ui Kunta

 

/Ui Kunta

As the Ju/‘hoansi Development Fund grew, it became obvious that education could not exist in a vacuum. Even when Ju/‘hoan learners had access to text books, writing materials and instruction in mother tongue, they continued to struggle in the classroom. Nor did a traditional educational model and structure have the capacity to address the education challenges facing primary Ju/’hoan learners. Ju/’hoan elders and parents have continually said that the current system fails their children by not addressing the needs of both learners and parents. Hence this project for the lower primary Village Schools under the name “Save the San”.

Read more about our Board of Directors members, Architect and Project Managers under Meet the Team.

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]