The Small Things Fund is growing. It started off as an idea on a Saturday afternoon in March 2016. It was just going to be a Facebook page with advice to prospective first generation students. I had received so many messages over the years from young people and their parents, asking questions about the application process, bursaries, the experience and work prospects.
The requests usually came from people in my social circles – in the family, in the neighbourhood, in our chuch. Some of the students live in resource-poor communities where attending University is far outside their reality. This despite the fact that there are three Universities within a 50km radius of the places they stay. It had been the same for me, growing up on the Cape Flats in the 80s and 90s, so I had some idea of how that plays out.
So I started the page, and started receiving requests. But I soon realised that the most immediate need, especially at the start of the academic year, is money. Funds for books, calculators, lab coats and dissection kits. Students need registration fees, money for food, deposits for accommodation and even busfare to move to campus. I have heard requests for bedding, cutlery, appliances. For some the costs are unexpected, and so far beyond their livelihood means, that it seems impossible. In fact, for many, it is simply is impossible.
With limited resources and black tax of my own, I wondered how I might be able to help. I know what the costs are. I live in a University town, and an expensive one. I was quite aware that I could not offer the thousands of rands needed. Then it hit me: what if I cannot give the money, but if I could find people who could, and then connect those funds to the students?
Four years later, and we have offered Small Things Fund bursaries to more than 80 students with just under R 100 000 raised through relational crowdfunding. Many of those students have graduated, and many more will graduate this year. It was just an idea on a Saturday afternoon. It was the start of something small, but much bigger than I had imagined.
The Small Things Fund 