The Foundation recently celebrated its second Allan Gray Fellowship graduation ceremony in Johannesburg.  While it was the second event of this nature, it was the first time that our Founder and Patron, Mr Allan Gray, along with his wife Gill and son, William were in attendance.  It was also the first time that the graduating class included Allan Gray Fellows from the Eastern Cape.

The second cohort of 16 graduates join the first eight who graduated at the end of the 2008 bringing the total number of graduated Allan Gray Fellows to 24.  While this may seem like a small number (which will grow over time), it was Margaret Mead who said it best; “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

We, at the Foundation, are intimately acquainted with the sacrifices and effort that these 16 unique individuals have made over the last three or four years to have successfully completed both their university degrees and the Foundation’s Fellowship Programme.

During his speech to the graduating class, Anthony Farr highlighted three of the Foundation’s five pillars, namely, Intellectual Imagination, Achievement Excellence and the Spirit of Selflessness and stressed their importance in terms of the journey these individuals were about to embark on.  However, his words around the pillar of the Spirit of Selflessness resonated the most.  “We need to rediscover the energy, the creativity, the passion that comes from pursuing a purpose greater than ourselves. A powerful consequence of embracing selflessness is that it moves your journey from one of success to one of significance. And ultimately our search is a search for significance. “  

To, Beverley, Dominic, Maurice, Mbali, Melissa, Michael, Millien, Ntombizandile, Patrick, Phethile, Phumelele, Silindile, Tshepo, Sivuziwe, Gugulethu and Sinesipho, our graduating class of 2009, we wish you a journey filled with significance.