The Wild Ride Education Company (WREC) is proud to announce the completion of phase three of the Bulungula College project, which began in 2017. This new block of three classrooms plus storage rooms is a much-needed addition to Bulungula College, which has already received nine classrooms from WREC in recent years and brings the total number of classrooms built by WREC to fifty !
The investment has certainly paid off with the College achieving a 100% Matric pass rate in 2022, the first time ever this has been achieved in the Xhora Mouth District.
After a three-year absence of activity due to the global pandemic, the Imana Wild Ride resumed its official operations in 2022 when the event picked up on the twenty-second ‘racing of the tide’. However, a few smaller tours took place during the Covid sabbatical, which contributed to the WREC coffers and with a significant donation from ‘the Dutchies’ tour, who finally experienced the wildest side of the wild coast in May 2022. Despite very challenging conditions and many issues along the way, this small group of only eleven ‘Dutchies’ were so inspired by the work being done to improve education facilities in this region that they raised nearly half the cost of the current build ! Huge kudos to them.
The rest of the funds came from last year’s event and a few loyal corporate donors, allowing for the extension to Bulungula College to be built.
From the Bulungula Incubator Program
‘It takes a village.’
Bulungula Incubator is located in one of the most rural parts of the Mbhashe municipality along the Wild Coast, one of the poorest in South Africa (according to the latest census results.) When we started our work in 2007, there were no functioning schools, and the nearest high school was 30km away, with no affordable transport available. As a result, 95% of learners from our community dropped out after grade 9. This sparked our work to provide quality education for our community from early childhood development (ECD) until high school and beyond.
Imana Wild Ride and WREC have been unwavering partners for the past ten years, supporting infrastructure projects at our ECD centres, Bulungula College and Job Skills and Entrepreneurship Programme. Our partnership began in 2015 when Imana WREC rebuilt one of our collapsed ECD centres. In 2019, thanks to Imana WREC, Bulungula College opened its doors as the first high school in our area. After only four years, Bulungula College made history, earning a 100% Matric pass rate in 2022. This year, we expanded our campus to accommodate our growing school, again with the support of Imana WREC.
Our success would not have been possible without the generosity of Imana Wild Ride & WREC; this race makes a real difference for people in our community. On behalf of Bulungula Incubator and our community, enkosi — thank you!