Christa Kuljian

Contact information: phone: 27.11.726.1552; e-mail: christak@alignafrica.com

Organization: The University of Witswatersrand was granted full university status in 1922, although its origins go back to 1896.

Organization’s biography: Wits has built a reputation for itself by promoting freedom of inquiry and the search for knowledge and truth. It has established itself at the industrial and commercial heart of South Africa as a center for education and research of the highest quality. Wits’s mission is to build on this foundation in a way that takes into account its responsibilities within South Africa today while maintaining and enhancing its position as a leading university in South Africa, in Africa, and in the world by sustaining globally competitive standards of excellence in learning, teaching and research.

Mott grants through 2009: No grants have been made to Wits.

What Wits is doing during the World Cup: Wits is one of several universities providing lodging for World Cup visitors through its campus housing.

My most meaningful place in South Africa: It is my mother-in-law’s house in Eldorado Park. Eldos is a township adjacent to Soweto and it’s where my mother-in-law lives and where my husband grew up. I spent my first Christmas in South Africa there in 1984. My husband and I lived there in 1992 after we were married. Of course, my two daughters have gone there for many school vacations and we have had many family gatherings there over the years. In fact, we were there yesterday for Sunday lunch – chicken curry, rice, pumpkin, macaroni and cheese, roast chicken and roast potatoes. There were about 25 of us so we couldn’t fit in the house. We usually spill out onto the stoep (front steps). A lot of things have changed for me in South Africa, but there’s something about going to visit Grandma Anne’s house that keeps our family grounded. I’ve been dialing the same phone number for more than 25 years!

Organization contact info:
1 Jan Smuts Avenue
Braamfontein 2000
Johannesburg, South Africa

Phone:  27.11.717.1000
E-mail: webmaster@wits.ac.za
Web site: http://web.wits.ac.za/WitsHome.htm