Two of the four traditionally thatched Xhosa huts in Heritage Valley at the Donald Woods Centre at Hobeni.<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Heritage Valley consists of four large Xhosa huts set in a natural sloped amphitheatre surrounded by trees to the immediate south of Wendy Woods House, the operational headquarters of the Foundation\u2019s work in the Mbashe district.<\/p>\n

The idea behind the development is to provide a natural space for large community events for the surrounding residents of Hobeni and the wider area.<\/p>\n

The DWF successfully applied to the National Lottery Commission for funding under its Arts, Culture and Heritage programme banner. Four huts are complete. A future final phase is the construction of an outdoor stage, ablution facilities and storage rooms for PA systems and sound equipment.<\/p>\n

The purpose of the Huts<\/strong><\/p>\n

Living Museum:<\/strong> One hut will become a living museum for and to the people of Bomvanaland. The Foundation will start to develop this small museum with artefacts as they become available. \u00a0Exhibitions depicting the life of Bomvanaland, both past and present, will be displayed in this hut as well as the rich history of the region. This could play a significant role in building heritage and culture skills and instilling pride and knowledge in the area\u2019s rich cultural and historical\u00a0legacy.<\/p>\n

Children\u2019s Library and Homework Club:<\/strong> The next hut will house a homework club for local school children and a children\u2019s library. It has been furnished with colourful child-friendly furniture filled with toys, games and learning materials, thanks to generous donations co-ordinated by some members of the Lilly Connecting Hearts Abroad volunteer cohort who spent two weeks at Hobeni in October 2015.<\/p>\n

The Foundation put out a call to partners for a book drive and we were able to secure sizeable donations of children\u2019s books from Rotary Bedfordview in Johannesburg (as part of their Bury Me in Books outreach which distributes books donated by Rotary in the US), RTT Logistics, Sanofi and Montana Health and ITEC in East London.<\/p>\n

The Foundation would like to thank all our partners in this book drive for their generous response and donations of books in both isiXhosa and English. We also thank the library staff of ITEC in East London for pointing us in the right direction regarding setting up a children\u2019s library. These donations will fill a sizeable gap in our children\u2019s library and your partnership has made a dream possible.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The hut is decorated with colourful posters and learning materials together with floor mats for reading corners and story time areas \u2013 all aimed at providing a space for fun, learning, building literacy skills and instilling a lifelong love of reading and learning.<\/p>\n

The Foundation will continue to source book donations for this exciting initiative. We will keep our stakeholders updated with the progress made.<\/p>\n

DWF Break-Away Training Room:<\/strong> One hut will be used as a DWF break-away training room and it can be used by visitors and organisations that are using the facilities at the Donald Woods Centre.<\/p>\n

Traditional Authorities Meeting Room:<\/strong> The last hut consists of a tiered carpeted meeting area with a beautiful, large mahogany table and chairs \u2013 designed as a comfortable meeting place for the use of traditional authorities in\u00a0the area.<\/p>\n

Lastly, the sloped grassy lawns between the huts have been landscaped with trees and shrubs, forming a natural amphitheatre where people\/spectators can sit and observe and take part in community events such as traditional ceremonies, festivals, drama, music or general educational and cultural performances.<\/p>\n

The area overlooks the burial site of Donald and Wendy Woods and their son Lindsay.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Heritage Valley consists of four large Xhosa huts set in a natural sloped amphitheatre surrounded […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4201,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[110,111,112,106],"tags":[116,115,117,118],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/heritage-valley-2-1-e1463657437351.jpg?fit=1105%2C828&ssl=1","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7DEjh-15z","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4648,"url":"https:\/\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/dwf-hosts-large-heritage-celebration\/","url_meta":{"origin":4189,"position":0},"title":"DWF hosts large celebration of Xhosa heritage","date":"September 30, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"The Donald Woods Foundation ended Heritage Month with a huge celebration at the Donald Woods Centre at Hobeni which saw close to 1,000 people celebrating Xhosa culture and the rich heritage of the amaBomvana people. The day drew residents from all over the Mbashe district including dignitaries from government departments,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Citizenship and active democracy"","img":{"alt_text":"heritage-article-composite","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Heritage-article-composite.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4504,"url":"https:\/\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/marrying-western-medicine-with-indigenous-knowledge\/","url_meta":{"origin":4189,"position":1},"title":"Marrying western medicine with indigenous knowledge","date":"July 4, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Dr Gubela Mji of Stellenbosch University leads a village elder to the Indigenous Health Conference at the Donald Woods Centre at Hobeni. Almost 100 traditional healers, village elders, chiefs, community leaders and residents took part in an Indigenous Health Conference at the Donald Woods Centre at Hobeni over the weekend.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Citizenship and active democracy"","img":{"alt_text":"website front page","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/website-front-page.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4245,"url":"https:\/\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/new-dwf-head-office-at-donald-woods-birthplace\/","url_meta":{"origin":4189,"position":2},"title":"New DWF head office at Donald Wood’s birthplace","date":"May 23, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"23 May 2014 The Donald Woods Foundation has officially opened its new head office at Hobeni, in the deeply rural area of the Mbashe Local Municipality, Eastern Cape, South Africa. The old Hobeni trading store was where Donald Woods was born on 15 December 1933. The opening was attended by\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Citizenship and active democracy"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4247,"url":"https:\/\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/donald-woods-archive-established-at-hobeni\/","url_meta":{"origin":4189,"position":3},"title":"Donald Woods archive established at Hobeni","date":"July 26, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"26 July 2014 A comprehensive new archive of Donald Woods\u2019 life and momentous career is being established at the new Donald Woods Centre at Hobeni in the former Transkei. Meticulously curated by leading anti-apartheid activist David Kenvyn, the Donald Woods Foundation Library and Archive is the most detailed record yet\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Donald Woods Centre"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4310,"url":"https:\/\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/building-the-donald-woods-centre-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":4189,"position":4},"title":"Building the Donald Woods Centre","date":"February 1, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"The Donald Wood Centre at Hobeni has been featured in an article in the Financial Times, London. Headlined Donald Woods Centre built in memory of South African activist, the article by Lily Le Brun relates how the\u00a0family of the famous anti-apartheid campaigner have established the headquarters of the Donald Woods\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Citizenship and active democracy"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/WP_20160201_10_29_51_Pro-e1460617539599.jpg?fit=1030%2C685&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4746,"url":"https:\/\/www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org\/an-eye-opening-but-enriching-experience-gained-by-all\/","url_meta":{"origin":4189,"position":5},"title":"An eye-opening but enriching experience gained by all","date":"November 8, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Another 10 international volunteers returned home this month having experienced working and living in rural areas that many city-dwelling South Africans have never seen in a lifetime of living in South Africa. 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