Works of Art Collection

Graca Machel Hall

Graca Machel was born in 1945. In 1975, she married Samora Machel, first president of newly independent Mozambique, and had two children. She studied Germanic languages at the University of Lisbon until 1972. When Frelimo formed an independent government in 1975, Machel became a member of Frelimo's Central Committee and the Minister of Education and Culture, the same year in which she married Samora Machel. As Minister for Education until 1989, she worked to implement Frelimo's goal of universal education for all Mozambicans and increased the number of children in schools from 400 000 to 1.5 million. In recognition of the particular devastation of war on children, Machel became Chairperson of the National Organization of Children of Mozambique, an organization that places orphans in village homes while reinforcing the role of the family and community in the healing process. She was widowed when President Machel was killed in a plane crash in 1986. Machel is recognized for her dedication to educating the people of Mozambique, and for her leadership in organizations devoted to the children of her country. She was a major force in improving literacy and schooling in Mozambique and has spoken of the needs and rights of children, families and community, from platforms all over the world. In the decade from 1975-1985, the number of students enrolled in primary and secondary schools in Mozambique rose from about 40 percent of all school-aged children to over 90 percent for males and 75 percent for females. Machel has also participated in international fora, as a delegate to the 1988 UNICEF conference in Harare, Zimbabwe, and as the President of the National Commission of UNESCO in Mozambique. In addition to her many contributions, Machel also served on the international steering committee of the World Conference on Education for All, held in 1990. The new regime of President Chissano of Mozambique brought Machel many opportunities to provide community service in education. One of her most successful efforts started in 1990, when she and a group of friends founded the Foundation for Community Development, an organization offering technical help and funds to communities to build local schools and clinics. She was elected Chancellor of the University of Cape Town in 1999 for a ten-year term of office. She holds honorary doctorates
from UCT, UWC, RAU and the University of Essex. Source: Council EXCO minutes 2 November 2005.

1 Show Road,Lower Campus, Rosebank

Lower

-33.95529

18.46956

274

2740

Owned