We are in the process of growing our board. We wish to do this in a way that does not just conform to traditional structures, but rather takes what is valuable from these and blends them with flexibility and an openness to new ways of forming structures that make sense to all of the players in the system. We are therefore seeking carriers of old wisdom, bearers of new ways, path forgers, brave sense makers and moral compasses who hold us to our truth.
Governing Body
Board of Directors

As an active member of the day to day operations, Theresa brings to the Board oversight on what's happening on the ground for review, and feeds this back to the working team.

Yoli brings to the Board invaluable insights into the spaces between the divides that we strive to span. Her truth speaking continuously grounds us and calls us to attend to assumptions within ourselves before we take any steps out into the world.

Sue brings to the Board a lifetime of sense-making of the inner workings of organisations, what causes them to stumble and what helps them to thrive.

After completing his BCom in accounting at The University of Fort Hare, he moved into the NGO sector where he could combine his love for numbers and his quest for social justice. Having managed grant funding models locally and internationally for over 10 years, he comes with a vast body of knowledge in financial and organisational management, and we are very excited for him to be joining our team and improving our systems.
Board of Advisors








He is currently in the process of putting all of his experience into practice, growing off grid land stewardship and building the collective systems of governance required.


Sandile brings to the board the real lived experience of the youth Amava Oluntu serves. His sensitivity to the harsh injustices faced every day at every turn, keep us focused and motivated to create systemic change so that future generations don’t have to undergo the same traumas. He is on the board to keep us real, and also to learn the inner runnings of an organisation so that he can apply these to his own journey in the future.
Founding Members
Amava Oluntu was founded in 2017 by Theresa Wigley, Yoliswa Mahobe, Mzukise Zele, and Calvin Dias. During a trip to the Eastern Cape, which led to the formation of Amava Oluntu, they were deeply moved by the abundance of knowledge and resources in the villages that they visited. This ignited the desire to create pathways of exchange between rural and urban centres of informal learning where connection could be restored, lost knowledge could be remembered and new knowledge could be gained. The belief was that through this sharing, both urban and rural communities could be revitalised. This vision continues to burn brightly for those who are taking the work forward now.
