Lowe tutored these eighth grade girls for two weeks through Kliptown Youth Program in South Africa in May. The shot was taken on her last day, right after the girls had sung to her. It was her third time volunteering for the nonprofit, which helps impoverished youth prepare for college.
Heidi Lowe had never seen such poverty.
It was her second time traveling out of the U.S., and she had flown half way around the world to South Africa.
The then-Chief of Finance & Operations for the Public Defender’s Office and part time San Diego State undergraduate student was part of a group traveling with then-Africana Studies Professor Dr. Shirley Weber.
Lowe found herself in a particularly downtrodden neighborhood of Soweto called Kliptown, visiting a nonprofit that works to help the children there prepare for college. The ambitious idea behind Kliptown Youth Program (KYP) is that by lifting these children up, the community as a whole will benefit. KYP offers tutoring, athletic and arts programs and free meals to about 400 children between the ages of two and 18.
Lowe was stunned by what she saw: children living in shacks with no running water or electricity. They bathed and cooked out of buckets. With unemployment, teen pregnancy and HIV/AIDs rampant, families could not afford the cost of school uniforms, shoes, lunch or books.
And yet, the children “had this joy, this spirit, this hopefulness and gratitude,” Lowe said. “They seemingly have nothing materially, but they have everything—they have love, they have each other’s back, music, dance, joy. It’s a whole different level of joy.”
On that first trip, Lowe remembers watching students perform a special gumboot dance, which originated in the mines in South Africa as a way for workers to communicate when talking was banned. She helped paint shacks, and met the nonprofit’s founder, a 26-year-old named Thulani Madondo, who spoke from the heart about his desire to help prepare other local youth to do what he hadn’t been able to: go to college.
“I didn’t know any 26-year-olds who took on things like that, that were such community leaders,” Lowe said. “It was just amazing.”
Lowe, who has two adult sons in San Diego, spent less than a day there but was deeply moved by what she had seen.
“There was some kind of connection,” she said. “The kids immediately stole my heart.”
She returned to San Diego and started raising money for the organization.
The next year, she returned on another trip with Dr. Weber, who is now a state Assemblywoman from San Diego.
After that second trip, Lowe said she knew her relationship with the children and organization would be a lasting one. She began to communicate with some of the kids and nonprofit leaders by email and Facebook. She mailed them gifts, including a laptop computer and books.
Last year, Madondo and his work were recognized with a CNN Hero award. Madondo got to travel to Los Angeles to receive the award at a ceremony with CNN anchor Anderson Cooper. He invited Lowe to be one of his guests at the event, which she excitedly accepted. Madondo was voted into the top 10, earning him $50,000, which he used to build a computer lab at the KYP facility. CNN produced this webpage on Madondo and KYP, including videos and other information.
In May, Lowe made her third trek to Kliptown, a journey which requires 19 hours of flying time and typically costs about $1,200 in airfare. Lowe, who is now a Principal Administrative Analyst with HHSA’s Public Health Services, spent two weeks volunteering at KYP on her own this time. When she arrived, she said she felt like she had returned home.
Lowe started each day working with preschoolers, then making sandwiches and doing other errands at mid-day and tutoring eighth graders every afternoon.
During her time there, three KYP shacks burned to the ground. She doesn’t know how the fires started, but luckily nobody was injured. Madondo walked her through the ruins one day and sheepishly asked if she could help purchase new posts for the buildings at a cost of $15 total.
She was heartened by how big of a difference she could make in their lives for such a relatively small amount of money.
Lowe said there was no comparison between this trip and one she took last year with friends to on a cruise in the Mediterranean.
“Just how I felt when I left (South Africa), my heart was so full,” she said. “You can’t buy that kind of stuff.”
She has grown so close with some of the youth at KYP that some call her “mom.” She communicates with them daily.
Lowe hopes to return again soon. After she retires in about five years, she plans to spend even larger blocks of time there, maybe a month at a time.
She’s heard other people say that they need to find a hobby to fill their time during retirement.
“I feel blessed because I found something that I am passionate about,” she said.
And while it may seem like she is the one doing the giving, Lowe said that’s not the case.
“They give me back 10 times more than I give them, in joy and heart,” she said. “They appreciate it so much, every little thing.”
For more information on Kliptown Youth Program, visit its website.
