Celebrating Our Net Buddies

Every year, just before our Net Buddies begin their final exams, we hold a step-up ceremony to celebrate how far they have come. It honors their commitment and hard work throughout the year: showing up every week for their VCs, emailing their mentors, writing blogs, and doing their schoolwork and researching their current or future interests. We love to recognize each of them with accolades for their dedication.

These celebrations are also about the people who walk beside our Net Buddies, too. Our Video Mentors joined the ceremonies online, as they do week in and week out, year in and year out, and their parents and guardians in person. THANK YOU for your tremendous contribution and your continued support.

We held three separate ceremonies, one for each of our sites, and parents and guardians were there to witness and celebrate their teens. As always, the day was full of joy and pride. Our Net Buddies were soon chatting about who plans to work hard next year to be recognized in which award category. That kind of motivation is exactly what we love to see.

The pride reached beyond the room, too. One parent shared a post with their son's certificate, saying, “I am so proud of my son, keep it up.” Awards and so much more! 

A Partnership Built to Last

Some partnerships begin with a kind response to an unexpected email, but then grow into something much bigger. Our relationship with Absolute Containers is one of those. When we decided to develop our first LaunchPad, we were determined to work with a South African company to build it, but struggled to find a partner with the construction expertise that shared our concern for local teens until Absolute Containers answered the call.

Since 2012, they have been alongside Infinite Family, building spaces where our teens can learn, connect, and grow. They built our very first LaunchPad container in 2012 in Alexandra, Johannesburg, followed by two more in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, and Mehlwana, Mpumalanga. Each recycled container computer lab gives young people access to learning, mentorship, and technology, helping our teens build skills in communication, education, career preparation, technology, and life skills. Absolute Containers understood the brief and made these safe study spaces real, treating every LaunchPad as a space with a purpose, not just another unit to deliver.

From the very start, they have been directly involved in every step of the journey: supporting troubleshooting with us at every stage, assisting us with the container shades and plinths, solving environmental wear-and-tear challenges, and bringing to life the architectural drawings that turned a steel box into a place we proudly call our LaunchPads. They even captured the process on film, so we could share the story as it unfolded. That kind of openness is rare, and we are grateful for it. Click here to see how the first double-decker LaunchPad was made.

Welcome to Our Infinite Family 

Anyone who knows Amy knows just how much she loves walking, and on her recent visit, sponsored by Southern Sun Rosebank, Amy stayed in the neighborhood our office calls home.

It’s a beautiful hotel, and the staff were friendly and professional in equal measure. The best part was the location because all her meetings were roughly two blocks from one another. She was able to walk between the hotel, the office, her meetings, and even pop over to the mall for the necessities that keep the energy running high!

Amy says dashing from one meeting to the next on foot felt like being in New York City, and while people will tell you that South Africa isn’t a country where people walk, she is pleased to help dispel that myth in Rosebank.

All thanks to our newest partner, Southern Sun Rosebank. Welcome to our Infinite Family!

Net Buddies, Video Mentors, and Donors are the heart of our Infinite Family

Click here to see the Infinite Family Anniversaries we celebrate in October.

Thank you for being our Infinite Family

"“I know that my journey has been supported by more people than I can name, and I carry that gratitude with me.”
 ~Net Blazer, Nthatuo

*Photos and quotes are all real Infinite Family Net Buddies. For their safety, we change the names and images to protect their identities.