When the understanding of life in all its glory is clear like a cloudless sky, then the realization of the greater cause of humanity and the purpose of life is clear. There are few amongst us who choose to follow the grander design and perform every task that might change the dynamics of the human society. Rolex proudly sponsors these pioneering individuals and recognizes their effort. The Rolex Award for Enterprise is one such endeavour by Rolex that brings to the forefront astoundingly talented individuals that seek to transform the functioning of the society by the utilization of pioneering concepts. The Rolex Awards for Enterprise sponsored and created by Rolex is an ambitious project that saw the light of the day in 1978 and since then honoured and awarded 110 distinguished individuals for their outstanding achievement in the fields of science and medicine; technology and innovation; exploration and discovery; the environment; and cultural heritage. Each of the Laureates is awarded 100,000 US dollars each along with a gold Rolex chronometer. Andrew Muir the conservationist who was awarded the Rolex Award for Enterprise in 2008 is also the Director Wilderness Foundation UK. The elemental force for the Uzmi Wethu initiative in South Africa, Andrew Muir is completely dedicated to increasing awareness and bringing a positive change in the society.

Through the Uzmi Wethu initiative Andrew Muir along with other members of Wilderness Foundation South Africa as well as Wilderness Foundation UK is helping over 88000 families that usually have small children as heads of the families. The widespread problem of HIV/Aids has affected a huge number of people and because of this rampant crisis, a large number of children have no family members apart from younger siblings. The Uzmi Wethu project trains the young motivated youth in the field of vocational training and assist them in attaining jobs related to the booming ecotourism industry in South Africa. This multifaceted program that is spearheaded by Andrew Muir puts its focus on orphaned children. Andrew Muir has raised over 26 million dollars for running a number of initiatives that helps these unfortunate children, the latest is the Uzmi Wethu project. Uzmi is taken from Xhosa which is one of South Africa’s 11 official languages and means ‘home’.

The Wilderness Foundation UK, along with the Gaia Foundation hosted a talk session at the Smithfield Gallery in London on the 26th of January, this year. This session featured the Rolex award winner Andrew Muir who came to elucidate the Uzmi Wethu project to anyone who was interested in this holistic development program. The most important element of humanity is service to one another and the fact that even though we are fully capable of helping people weighed down by dire problems we still don’t. The lack of awareness about the plight of the suffering children doesn’t come to light in a continent that thousands of miles away from consciousness. However, the growth of understanding and the realisation of the truth about our fellow human beings has led to increasing participation by the people of UK and a number of organisations as well as individuals have actively supported the cause of the champion of humanity Andrew Muir.

Tags: Andrew Muir, rolex, Rolex Awards for Enterprise, South Africa, Uzmi Wethu, Wilderness Foundation UK

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 20th, 2009 at 8:00 am and is filed under Rolex Culture, Rolex Events. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.