Ububele’s therapeutic nursery school for fifty at-risk children is Ububele’s heart. Its pulse drives Ububele’s daily life. It provides a vital link to the community. It is a place for non-invasive observation and learning by lay counselors. Positive early childhood experiences are the most significant predictor of mental health in later life. Ububele therefore has an Early Childhood and Parents Division and Group Work and Training Divisions, each informing the work of the whole programme. Ububele is realizing in practice South Africa’s commitment to the Rights of Children, especially the rights to safety and security and health care which must include psycho-social support.

People with HIV and AIDS are also part of every group of people involved in Ububele’s mental health programmes. Many traumatized woman and children, often orphans in child-headed families, need support from trained counselors. This too is Ububele’s field of action. Ububele provides direct support to and training for lay and professional counselors working in such areas.

Keys to Ububele’s approach developed over six years are:

• Well trained lay counselors are highly effective in providing counseling and support within their own community provided that there is professional supervision and a referral facility such as Ububele
• Group work is more cost effective and equally therapeutically effective as individual work
• The use of local languages in group counseling and in therapy sessions is vitally important for the individual receiving therapy and for therapists to understand the knowledge systems and healing practices within specific cultures and language groups

Ububele Resource and Training Centre is based in Alexandra Township in Johannesburg. There is still a huge gap in the quantity and quality of counseling services in disadvantaged communities like ‘Alex.’ Ububele trains psychotherapists, lay counselors and community counselors working in disadvantaged areas. Ububele’s Community Liaison Officer is developing structural links with the Alex community with an estimated population of 328,579 people and 94,618 households.

Ububele maintains clinical, research and partnership links with the University of the Witwatersrand’s Department of Psychology. It also maintains associations with University College, London, and with the family research section of the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) of South Africa. It is currently working with the Anna Freud Centre in London, which specialises in early childhood counseling and therapy. Ububele trains and supervises over 50 lay counselors at Alexandra Clinic, Edenvale Hospital and elsewhere.

Tony Hamburger and his wife Hillary are the co-founders of Ububele. Both are clinical psychologists. Each has 30 years experience in clinical practice and in community involvement and training. Tony is the clinical supervisor and business leader. The Administrator is Jake Matlhong, a trained teacher, a practicing theologian, a trained counselor and he has fifteen years’ experience in business administration.

Ububele has eight full time clinical and training staff, five part time staff, as well as interns and volunteers. It has a formal governance structure made up of a Board of Trustees, and a community liaison committee. Ububele has initiated the process of accreditation of its training programmes with the South African Qualifications Authority.

The focus in all Ububele’s programmes is to strengthen the capacity of individual counselors and counseling organisations working in disadvantaged areas.

Ububele is challenged to maintain its existing services, and to develop new and specialised responses and interventions. It must sustain itself and develop its capacity to meet the growing local demand. There is also an increasing and unmet demand for counseling services throughout Southern Africa. This regional challenge is fueled by the HIV and AIDS pandemic which constitutes a substantial social and economic problem. This offers opportunities for intellectual exchange within the region, and that should lead to improved responses and better services, informed by research. The goal is to establish a regional professional psychotherapeutic and counseling network for psycho-social support.

Persona dolls are made at Ububele by a group of people living with Aids. Ububele trains trainers in the use of the persona dolls, each of which has a name and a personality and history that children (and adults) relate to. Practitioners work with groups of children up to seven years old where the children can express and share their emotional problems and concerns, and in group therapy with children.

Ububele has the free use of a building with 2000 square metres of office and lecture/conference space. Ububele currently needs about R1 500 000 a year to maintain its activities. It is registered in South Africa as a public benefit organisation with tax exemption.

I have visited the project many times. I have seen the commitment of the people involved. I have examined their annual reports. I recommend that Ububele should be widely supported. I propose a monthly donation by banker’s order of R70.00.

Of course I would like you to be as generous as you wish to be: Ububele will happily accept larger donations, whether monthly, quarterly, half yearly or yearly, or as single gifts. Please remember that regular donations help with forward planning. Ububele will of course send you annual statements of your contributions for your tax returns, so it is best to send your address. Ububele’s Annual Reports and Financial Statements will be available from them.


Download our FRIENDS OF UBUBELE document

*) From isiKhosa, meaning: Kindness, compassion, Empathy

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