The official opening of the Leuna Lechesa Building
EXPLANATION AND HISTORY OF SSB
The idea for Seliba Sa Boithuto (SSB) was developed in 1991, when my good friend Leuna Lechesa told me to stop complaining about
the limitations of the regular school system and come up with an alternative. The schools with their timetables, syllabi
and external examinations make pupils into passive consumers of knowledge instead of active learners of what they
want to know. With the support of the Initials Steering Committee we wished to give the responsibility of learning
back to the learner.
Therefore, SSB helps learners by providing a quiet place to study, materials (books, videos, computers, etc.) to
study from and tutorial support, when requested by the learner. SSB also encourages peer learning. The learners are
free to decide when, what and how to study and when they have learned sufficiently.
SSB does not provide organised courses, examinations or certificates. It is, therefore, not a school, but a place,
which helps people to study on their own. If so wished, learners can apply themselves as private candidates to examination
bodies, when they feel they are ready.
Learners, who are responsible for their own learning, must also be responsible for the organisation, which helps them.
SSB, therefore, is a democratic organisation of which the learners are members and which is registered as a non-profit
making non-denominational society. The Seliba Sa Boithuto Steering Committee is the annually elected body, which manages
the running SSB.
SSB provides an alternative means of education for those learners who have the confidence and self-discipline to take
their fate in their own hands. Learners, responsible for their own learning, will be better prepared for the unexpected
challenges life will create as former learners can attest to.
SSB has been in operation successfully since 1992 in rented facilities at Emmanuel Hostel of the Good Shepherd Sisters.
Due to the increased interest SSB needed a larger space of its own.
To make this dream a reality the Seliba Sa Boithuto Trust was then established. The SSB Trust has acquired the funds,
mainly originating from The Netherlands, and then organised the new building to be constructed. The building is
attractive and uses also passive solar energy for heating in winter, so that it is environmentally friendly.
The new building is named Leuna Lechesa, who was a great inspiration to Seliba Sa Boithuto, but who tragically passed
away in a traffic accident in February 2003.
Both the members of SSB and the SSB Trustees are very proud that the Leuna Lechesa Building can now be officially opened,
so that our learners can study in a more conducive environment.
By Gerard Mathot