Ursel Barnes' Yabonga, the Cape project transforming young lives

Life is full of paradoxes. Among them, that the greatest of those who walk among us are rarely the ones most widely celebrated. At least two would make my top ten of thousands of newsworthy people I’ve met and interviewed in almost 40 years of journalism. A modest German nun, Sister Elisabeth Schiller, is one of them. Another is Tich Smith, a former sportsman who hit the gutter before a spectacular rebound in a different guise. They achieved great things by serving their fellow human beings and in particular South Africa’s less fortunate – Tich as the founder of the LIV Village in KZN; Sister Elisabeth through her St Joseph’s Care project at Sizanani. Their selfless efforts have literally changed the fortunes of thousands of people. The woman on whom we focus in this episode of Rational Perspective falls into the same rarified category…. Meet Ursel Barnes, the co founder with Ufa Robertson of the inspirational HIV-related project called Yabonga, which in the past 20 years has quietly transformed thousands of young lives.