Cape Town - Rocklands Mitchells Plain-born academic and founder of The Small Things Fund, Dr Rhoda Malgas, has encouraged young and old to not allow a lack of funds to stand in their way of reaching their academic goals.
Dr Malgas urged them to get varsity-ready through working towards excellence as well as finding what options or help are available for them.
Malgas has been a lecturer in conservation ecology and etymology in the Stellenbosch University Faculty of AgriSciences since 2009.
She pursued tertiary education at the University of Cape Town, double majoring in archaeology and environmental and geographical sciences.
“I started it (fund) in March 2015 and the reason I started it was because I was sitting in my house one day and thinking what can I do to help other prospective students who want to get into university and who have a love for learning like I did and who come from a similar context that I come from,” Malgas said.
After putting some information online, Malgas found that people did not have money for registration fees, books and other small “things”.
On Mandela Day, they baked lemon meringue pies and would sell this for R67, with people willing to pay a lot more after hearing about the cause.
“I realised people would be willing to crowdfund for something that they felt was of value and then I swung this idea past a colleague who happens to now be one of the Board members, Monika Basson, and she said: ‘If you start something, I’m going to put my weight behind it’.”
They managed to raise R2 500 for the first bursary, and thus the fund was born.
The crowdfunding initiative offers first line support to first generation tertiary education students that aids academic success.
Malgas said it took a village to help her achieve her goals and this in acknowledgement and thanks to the village, by paying it forward.
“We help only with small amounts and if funds allow, up to R3 500 a student. The need is very big and our pool is small, but we keep it up because we know it makes a difference.
“We encourage young people if they really want to, especially targeting young people who are resource poor, who come from resource poor families, and who really have a passion for learning, who have the inclination for academic things, then there are ways to do that and it is better to try than to just give up,” he said.
Malgas was conferred a PhD in Conservation Ecology from SU on December 6.
Her research looked at rural communities which sustain themselves through the wild harvesting of indigenous rooibos and honeybush.
Her research focused primarily on areas of Genadendal in the Overberg, Harlem in Langkloof, Suid Bokkeveld in the Northern Cape, and Wupperthal in the Cederberg.
“Those are the regions where there are small-scale farmers involved in either honeybush or rooibos production,” Malgas said.
“I’ve always worked with smallscale farmers and in small rural towns. I really enjoy that kind of work and so the idea with the PhD is just to answer the question about sustainability, like how is it possible to sustain production in small-scale farming systems with people’s local knowledge of the environment included in that practice in a way that is ecologically, socially, and economically viable.”
Visit https://thesmallthingsfund.org/ or email [email protected] for more information.