In November 2018, 10 year old Joakim Basola and his friend Andy Brian visited VY Commons, a co-working space in Victoria Yards, where journalist Victoria Schneider and social worker Lungile Mfumo were working from. Joakim saw Victoria fix a bicycle and asked for help with a flat tire on his own bicycle that he had come with. Instead of fixing it for him, however, Victoria showed him how to do it himself.
Then, Joakim noticed drawings on the wall of the space. Local artist Sifundo Vilakazi was present and sat down for a spontaneous drawing lesson.
The next day they returned with more friends. As more children joined, Lungile and Victoria recognized not only the need for something purposeful to do for the young people of the community, but also the urgency to enable them and pass on autonomy.
Lungile, Victoria, and other tenants initiated a pilot program for young people during the Christmas holidays of 2018, using the skills available at Victoria Yards: bookbinding, writing, arts, cooking, crafts and gardening.
Today, five years later, Timbuktu in the Valley accommodates around 140 young people daily. It holds space for many undocumented young people who don’t go to school, promotes self-directed learning, as well as directed workshops in various fields such as permaculture, arts, indigenous cooking, skateboarding and karate. Inspired by the principles of Africa’s first university in Timbuktu, ancient Mali, the organization exposes children to potential career paths while working to raise independent, self-sustainable people.
