The town of Villiersdorp in the Western Cape recently played host to some 59 Allan Gray Fellows who are currently in their 2nd year (Year Equip) of the Fellowship Programme. This national event took place at the SOS Campsite from 23 – 25th April 2010.

The Connect Event was created to give Fellows an opportunity to activate their understanding of community and to bring about the realisation that they themselves form significant parts of the communities they come from and form in the future. 

Fellows were encouraged to actively and consciously think about how they could redefine or change their communities. As well as to have an understanding that community can represent a powerful movement of people seeking to bring change to their contexts – such as the Allan Gray Fellowship. Fellows began the process of defining what they would like the Community of Allan Gray Fellows to look like and represent “in the coming years”.

The event saw Fellows learning that, like an orchestra or choir, each individual has a role to play within a community, but the resulting whole is greater than the sum of its parts.  Furthermore, the Allan Gray Choir of Fellows took their newly learnt choral skills and entertained residents at the local old age home.

Our hope for Allan Gray Fellows in terms of their community orientation is entrenched into the very basis of our relationship with Fellows and is outlined in their individual contracts with the Foundation as follows: “Allan Gray Fellows are expected to perform their role as ambassadors to their community in a genuine and constructive manner. It is expected that Allan Gray Fellows will communicate to others a positive attitude, new insights, and that they will serve as a role model within their community. The culture of shared responsibility or contribution (ubuntu) will be further fostered by each Allan Gray Fellow’s continuing participation in the ongoing programme, including a willingness in the future to act as mentors and encouragers of others.”