We share knowledge and skills to counter systematic inequality

It all started with a bicycle.

In November 2018, 10 year old Joakim Basola and his friend Andy Brian visited VY Commons, a co-working space in Victoria Yards, where social worker Lungile Mfumo and journalist Victoria Schneider were working from. 

Joakim saw Victoria fix Lungile’s bicycle and asked for help with a flat tire on his own bike . Instead of fixing it for him, Victoria showed him how to do it himself. 

Joakim then noticed drawings on the wall of the space and asked the local artist Sifundo Vilakazi to show him how to draw.

The next day, the two boys returned with their friends. As more children joined, Lungile and Victoria took on the young people’s call for space that offers purposeful activities while enabling them and giving them autonomy.

Since then, Timbuktu in the Valley has gone through multiple ups and down and grown into a holistic alternative learning center accommodating around 140 young people on a daily basis.

It holds space for local South Africans as well as undocumented children and youth who have no access to the formal education system. We promote self-directed learning while offering a range of 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, we aim to foster and stimulate the young people’s self esteem and cultural awareness, and provide an outlook to a future full of opportunities an career paths for every young person, no matter where they’re from.