Dear students, members of the Marquette administration, faculty, staff, alumni and all who gave voice to securing the continuation of the South Africa Service Learning Program,
Earlier this week, I was at the Lonmin Platinum Mines where Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Brad Mills, CEO of Lonmin from London, were having a series of meetings with the people of the Greater Lonmin Community. In this post-apartheid South Africa, Lonmin committed itself to bring about, through the voices of the people of Lonmin, a radical, transformative, focused change in its corporate culture. The people of the Greater Lonmin Community chose to identify this initiative through the word "lentswe," which means voice.
Lentswe is what each of you gave to secure the continuation of the South Africa Service Learning Program in conjunction with the Desmond Tutu Peace Centre and the University of the Western Cape.
I am deeply grateful to each of you who spoke up. I am grateful to The Marquette Tribune for its solid reporting. I am particularly grateful for the voices of our students, those who have participated in the South Africa program and those who simply and utterly see its value. My deep gratitude goes to Provost Madeline Wake, who championed the program from the day I shared with her my concept for a strong academic service learning program in South Africa. She secured extremely generous startup funding. Her heart was heavy at the prospect of the program's demise. I know she rejoices in, and is profoundly instrumental in, its resurrection.
My heart will sing as I join others at Archbishop Tutu's 75th birthday celebration. The lentswe of the Marquette community has spoken. Let us go forward with full hearts and voices.
Sincerely,
Judy Mayotte
Mayotte is the founder of the South Africa Service Learning Program and the former Women's Chair in Humanistic Studies.