Meet The Team
Vuyokazi Jamieson has been the chief librarian of the Cawse Library at St Andrew’s College in Grahamstown/Makhanda since January 2016. Before then, she worked at Rhodes University library for five years where she was instrumental in implementing the Personal Librarian Programme modelled to Yale University where she spent seven weeks.
Vuyokazi is a co-chair of the “Friends of the Library”, a community outreach group seeking to look after the welfare of public libraries, raising money through a number of initiatives. Vuyokazi is heavily involved in Outreach within the Makhanda Community, and she is the coordinator of the Interact Club at St Andrew’s College.
Vuyokazi was a key force in leading the renovation project of the St Andrew’s College, Cawse Library in 2017. She brings with her a wealth of experience ranging from 10 years at the UCT libraries, 18 months at Bishops Diocesan College and a year at the UCT Graduate School of Business.
Vuyokazi has a Library Science degree from WSU, a LIS Hons from UCT and a M.Ed from Rhodes University. Her research topic was “Studying Learners’ Engagement around Literacy”.
Vuyokazi was awarded the 2019 LIASA Eastern Cape ‘Librarian of the Year’ and the second Runner Up nationally. She was a Humphrey H. Hubert Fulbright fellow at Penn State University – 2021/2022.
After six years as a Sound Engineer at The International Library of African Music, Sebastian joined the staff at Kingswood College, where he worked in the IT Department as a Systems Administrator and later as the Video Production Manager over the span of nine years.
Sebastian has a keen interest in Youth Development and served as Youth Leader at River of Life Church for a number of years.
He also serves on the board of directors for Access Music Project(AMP), a Non Profit Company with a focus in response to the problem of young potential musicians not having access to music studies. AMP’s model is that of a centre where human and physical resources are pooled to serve learners from various under-resourced schools, enabling the creation of a well-equipped, diverse and high quality music programme.
Rushay has worked with artists promoting art/education and creating debate with students from several university institutions worldwide. 2005 saw Rushay work with AfricasGateway, one of Africa’s biggest music portals, and his duties included interviewing artists, processing news, and collating music from artists. Rushay’s been featured in several documentaries and helped shape relationships for visiting educators. In 2004 Rushay was invited to Stanford University (Palo Alto, California), where he presented a documentary and a talk around hip-hop and activism.
Rushay recently spoke at New York University, California Lutheran University, University of Michigan, and The African Museum (San Francisco), where he presented a documentary on the work amongst educators and artists in his city. He also recently hosted a discussion at San Francisco State University where he spoke on “Black Internet” and the role and power of using the internet in advocating and educating the world on African culture.
Rushay has been instrumental in connecting visiting Fulbright scholars with local artists for various projects such as documentaries, thesis work, and debates around issues affecting youth movements. A keen photojournalist whose work was featured on CNN’s iReport. Rushay’s photography work was featured in a digital library in Barcelona and recently at the African-American art & culture center in San Francisco.
Rushay was also featured in a recent exhibition in Dubai’s Mojo Gallery, where his work was featured in the first series of African art in the Middle East. As Co-founder of True Sight Music, an indie-based music imprint based in Port Elizabeth, Rushay assisted http://www.khulumani.net, a Human Rights based NGO, in compiling a music compilation called Officially Offside. In 2014 Rushay spoke at Berklee School of Music and Northeastern University, discussing hip-hop and community activism.