About Community H.E.A.R.T.

Community H.E.A.R.T. (Health Education And Reconstruction Training), a UK based Registered Charity, was set up when Nelson Mandela was elected President of free South Africa to overcome apartheid's awful legacy.

Together with our partners in South Africa we give priority to health, education and reconstruction training projects based on the principle of self-help. We try not to run projects but give support to local initiatives, small and large.

People all over the world can now play a role in South Africa and the Southern African Region by helping people to gain the skills they need to rebuild their countries.

Founder and director Denis Goldberg says: "When we teach a person how to fish, his family will eat. The need is to teach communities to fish so they may eat for generations to come."

"Please give all the material and financial support you can."

About Community HEART founder Denis Goldberg

Life Sentence
In Nelson Mandela's book, A Long Walk to Freedom, he quotes Denis Goldberg in the Rivonia Courtroom shouting, "Life, Life to live!" when Justice de Wet sentenced him and his comrades to life imprisonment for treason.

Denis Goldberg gave most of his life for South Africa. But that wasn't enough. He still has a struggle to fight, for his cause was more than the end of apartheid in South Africa. It was and still is a struggle against injustice and a burning desire to help people in need. Despite having spent 22 years in prison Denis Goldberg still believes life is wonderful and he's trying to ensure it is wonderful for South Africa's many underprivileged.

Community H.E.A.R.T.
The man with a heart big enough to save the world has launched a charity in the UK aptly called Community H.E.A.R.T. (Health Education And Reconstruction Training) for Southern Africa. In this he has had the support of British people who have long supported the goal of a new South Africa. (The above from the SA Times, London, May 10, 1995.)

Youth
Denis Goldberg was born in Cape Town in 1933. He grew up there and studied there getting a degree in Civil Engineering. He became conscious of the injustice of apartheid when he was very young. In the nineteen-fifties he became active in the ANC-led Congress Alliance of South Africans of all races opposed to apartheid. He was detained in 1960 and spent four months in prison without trial.

Underground Struggle
When the underground armed wing, UmKhonto we Sizwe (Spear of the Nation) was founded in 1961 with Nelson Mandela as the first Commander in Chief, Denis became a technical officer. In 1963 he was arrested at the Rivonia H/Q of their army. He was sentenced with his comrades in 1964 at the end of the famous Rivonia Trial to four terms of life imprisonment.

In prison Denis took degrees in Public Administration, History and Geography, and in Library Science. He was halfway through a law degree when he was released.

As time passed the national and international struggle against apartheid grew in intensity. Even in prison Goldberg played a role in the struggle. The United Democratic Front adopted as patrons Nelson Mandela, Denis Goldberg and all the Rivonia Trialists. The UDF was a coming together of some 700 anti-apartheid organisations in South Africa.

In 1985 the pressure on the old regime grew to the point where political prisoners had to be released over a period culminating in Nelson Mandelas release in 1990. Denis Goldberg was released in 1985 after 22 years in prison. He went into exile in London where he joined his family.

Release and Exile
In London he resumed his work in the ANC in its London office from 1985 to 1994, when Nelson Mandela' Government was elected to office. He was a spokesperson for the ANC which and also represented it at the AntiApartheid Committee of the United Nations. .A large group of US organisations presented Denis Goldberg with the Albert Luthuli Peace Prize in recognition of his work against apartheid.

After Apartheid
After the first nonracial elections in South Africa Goldberg founded the development organisation Community H.E.A.R.T. in London in 1995 to help to improve the living standards of Black South Africans more quickly. With the support of German friends he established Community H.E.A.R.T. e.V. in Essen in Germany in 1996. In 1995 the Glasgow Caledonian University awarded him a Visiting Professorship in recognition of his services.

Recent Honours
In 1999 Glasgow Caledonian University awarded Denis an Honorary Doctorate of Laws (L.L.D.) In recognition of his work in building relations between Glasgow Caledonian and the universities South Africa.

MEDUNSA (The Medical University of Southern Africa) awarded Denis Goldberg an Honorary Doctorate (Ph.D..) on 20 May 2000 in recognition of his contribution to the liberation and reconstruction of South Africa, especially for his work in the field of education.

Denis has also been appointed as a trustee of the university of Transkei Foundation and as a member of the board of MEDUNSA Trust.