SKEF lunch honors those working hard for students
8:34 p.m. PDT September 8, 2015
Ubuntu is a South African philosophy loosely translated to mean “I am because we are.” This philosophy showing the entanglement of humanity was used in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission created by Archbishop Desmond Tutu after the institutional South African apartheid ended in the 1990s.
This same philosophy was brought up on Tuesday, Sept. 8 at the Salem Convention Center by Lou Radja, the keynote speaker for the Salem-Keizer Education Foundation annual back-to-school lunch.
“In Africa we say, ‘If you want to go fast, you go alone. If you want to go far, you go together,’ ” said Radja, a motivational speaker and social entrepreneur from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The luncheon event was held to honor individuals, nonprofits and other businesses and organizations that have worked to improve education in the Salem-Keizer area.
Among those recognized were seven Awesome Award recipients. The recipients were Lara Tiffin, principal of South Salem High School; Terry Hancock of Hancock Real estate; the Grove, Mueller and Swank, P.C. public accountants and consultants firm; the Statesman Journal; Michelle Ratcliffe of Truitt Family Foods; Oregon College Savings Plan; and Oregon ASK.
Radja had one key message for the hundreds of luncheon attendees – keep working for the success of the world’s children.
“The need is always greater than our efforts,” Radja said.
“In ten, twenty, thirty years, when the country is in their hands, what kind of Congo will there be? What kind of Africa? What kind of world?” he asked.
Radja stressed that the progress people make here in Salem is directly tied to the progress and success of others around the world, and vice versa. He encouraged everyone to recognize the unrealized potential around them.
“We know that education is at the heart of progress,” he said. “You being here shows all we have done, but we still have more to do.”
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Natalie Pate 