Mariam Sarrafan, Program Coordinator, Mentors & Mentorship Resources
“Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.” – Rumi (Persian poet)
Mariam joined Infinite Family in 2008 as a Video Mentor with her Net Buddy son, Sibusiso. Over the years, Sibu became part of Mariam’s family, with constant communication discussing Sibu’s goals and plans for his future, and how he can achieve them.
Two years ago, Mariam joined Infinite Family’s staff because she knows firsthand what 30 minutes a week, actively advocating and committing to the most vulnerable children in South Africa, can achieve. She has personally seen how Sibu has grown from a shy, temperamental, “unfocused” (as he puts it) youngster into a responsible, mature, and caring young man. Now he is the one who mentors others.
In her role, Mariam identifies and trains all individuals interested in becoming Video Mentors with Infinite Family. She supports new Video Mentors through the onboarding process until they are connected with their Net Buddy mentees.
Mariam’s goal is to see more and more (and more) teens matched with mentors all over the world. Mentors who guide them to build self-confidence, encourage them to think about and plan their future and show them that they are cared for and that they matter. Mariam hopes to see these teens turn their dreams into reality, growing into the best version of themselves and becoming leaders in their communities.
Mariam credits her cultural upbringing for fostering her passion for giving back and caring. She grew up in Europe and the Middle East, and has lived in the U.S. and Southeast Asia, raising her children to appreciate all the world has to offer. Mariam has volunteered her time for multiple causes, including caring for abused toddlers, fundraising for public schools, as well as building schools and bringing education to Cambodian children.
Mariam graduated from Purdue University with a Master’s degree in Education, a Bachelor of Arts in French Language & Literature, and a Bachelor of Sciences degree in Environmental Design. Mariam lives with her husband in New York City. Her children are spread across the world — her daughter is in Baton Rouge, her oldest son in San Francisco, and of course Sibu in SA!
“It’s your road, and yours alone – others may walk it with you, but no one can walk it for you.” – Rumi
Secretary, Infinite Family International and Infinite Family NPC
Elsina Mmaphori Bokaba was an Infinite Family Net Buddy for three and a half years, from 2009-2012 and is now a Net Blazer, blazing her way as a first-generation member of South Africa’s formal workforce. She grew up in Alexandra Township and attended Alexandra High School. She is the only family member, including her mother and sister, to complete high school, which she did with a Bachelor’s matric qualification. Ms. Bokaba became certified as a Cathodic Protection Technician (“CPT”) during a two-year internship at Isinyithi and then was hired as their first female CPT. She obtained her National Diploma in Electrical Engineering in March 2024. Today, she travels Africa-wide to evaluate industrial and infrastructure components, including storage vats, bridges, pipelines and ships, affected by moisture and other sources of degradation. Since joining Isinyithi, Ms. Bokaba has built her mother a house, bought a car, and purchased her first home. Ms Bokaba currently lives with her husband in Riverside, Johannesburg.
Katleho Lebata
Infinite Family International and Infinite Family NPC
Katleho Lebata is a senior investment risk professional with a MSc in Global Finance (Fordham University), a BSc in Actuarial Science(University of Pretoria), and 19 years of expertise leading investment risk management initiatives across diverse financial landscapes. He has a deep understanding of developmental investments, financial analysis, regulatory compliance, and strategic planning within the investment sector. He served as Senior Manager for Public Investment Corporation (PIC) the largest Fund Manager in Africa. In that role, he supported billions of US dollars in investments into small to large matured business firms to drive the Funds’ expansion into new territories such as the rest of SADC and Sub-Saharan Africa at large. Earlier in his career, he also worked in finance for various international and local companies such as Nestle, SABMiller, ABSA, and First National Bank. Prior to serving as a board member of Infinite Family, Mr. Lebata was the Executive Manager of The Association of Black Securities and Investment Professionals (ABSIP) and later served on the Board of ABSIP as an Executive for Young Professionals. Mr. Lebata splits his time between Pretoria and the Eastern Cape. In his spare time, he is a livestock farmer specialising in cattle and sheep. He is also interested in logistics with a focus on passenger and scholar transportation.
Rachel Lovett
Secretary, Infinite Family International and Infinite Family NPC
Rachel Lovett was an Infinite Family Video Mentor from 2010 to 2019. Ms. Lovett is an organizational development, strategic communications and fundraising consultant working with non-profit and for-profit companies in the United States and Ghana. Previously, she served as the Interim Executive Director of Thriving in Place and the Managing Director of War Child USA. War Child is a global non-profit that works with war-affected communities to help children and their families via access to education, economic opportunity, and justice. Rachel also managed the $64.5M capital campaign for Theatre for a New Audience to build its first home in the Downtown Brooklyn Cultural District. She is also on the Board of Clinton Housing & Development Company and the Advisory Board of Harlem School of the Arts. Rachel holds Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Arts degrees from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and a Master of Public Administration from the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. She lives in San Francisco, California, Goshen, New Hampshire and Lisbon, Portugal.
Palesa Makobe
Chair, Infinite Family International and Infinite Family NPC
Palesa Makobe is a Director/Partner at EY who serves as the Africa FAAS Leader and Southern African Cluster leader. Her work in FAAS covers a wide range of accounting and reporting, transaction accounting, treasury, and sustainability services. Prior to joining EY, she was Senior Manager – Finance and Change Management with Old Mutual Corporate, Partner/Director at Deloitte (South Africa) and filled several roles at KPMG, including Head of Global Mobility, Africa. Ms. Makobe completed her Bachelor of Commerce at the University of Witwatersrand and her Honours in Accountancy at the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal. She completed an Advanced Certificate in Emerging Markets and Country Risk Analysis at Fordham University, a Master of Business Administration at Columbia Business School and London Business School, and an Executive development programme at Duke University. She lives in Johannesburg.
Andre Nel
Chair, Infinite Family International and Infinite Family NPC
Andre Nel is a passionate entrepreneur and social impact advocate, owning two successful businesses in the Western Cape, South Africa: Clean My Bed Atlantic Seaboard and Tutor Doctor Cape Town North. Before establishing his own ventures, Andre served as General Manager of Sustainable Development at Pick n Pay and later as Foods Programme Manager at Woolworths. His long-standing commitment to youth empowerment is exemplified by his involvement with Infinite Family since 2018, a partnership he initiated as the General Manager: Sustainable Development at Pick n Pay. He holds an Honors Degree in Psychology from the University of Stellenbosch, an MBA from Stellenbosch Business School, and a Postgraduate Certificate in Sustainable Business from Cambridge University. Andre resides in Cape Town with his partner and their two young children.
Joseph Sacca
Chair, Infinite Family International and Infinite Family NPC
Joseph Sacca is a Partner at Baker & Hostetler LLP specializing in securities and commercial litigation. Previously, he was a Partner with Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP. Prior to joining Skadden Arps, Mr. Sacca was law clerk to Judge Clarence C. Newcomer of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Mr. Sacca serves on the Federal Bar Council Public Service Committee, which is dedicated to providing legal representation to those otherwise unable to afford it and to providing non-legal public service in a variety of areas. He received a B.A. in English from the University of Pennsylvania and a J.D. from the Temple University School of Law, where he served as the managing editor of the Temple Law Review. Mr. Sacca lives in Asheville with his wife and their two children.
Amy Conrad Stokes
Founder and CEO, Infinite Family International and Infinite Family NPC
Amy Conrad Stokes has spent more than 35 years working in all areas of business planning, start-up and ongoing management. Following the adoption of her son, Calder Qhawe, from South Africa in 2003, Ms. Stokes was inspired to develop an Internet platform using video technology to enable face-to-face distance mentoring. After two years of research, development and team building, she launched Infinite Family in 2006. Ms. Stokes began employing and mentoring at-risk teens while working at Chicago’s Shorebank Corporation in 1996. While at Shorebank, she created and ran a division called Studio Air, a business that employed teens from Chicago’s gang influenced South Shore neighborhoods. It was here that she learned the power of mentoring in the life of a teen with few positive role models or economic choices. Ms. Stokes started her professional career as part of Andersen’s Consulting Strategic Services team in Chicago, then San Francisco. She graduated from Kalamazoo College magna cum laude with a B.A. degree in economics (Honors) and French and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Ms. Stokes and her husband live in New York with two of their three children.
Booi Themeli, PhD
Infinite Family International and Infinite Family NPC
Dr. Booi Themeli is the Director of the Fordham University Ubuntu Academic Service Learning Program. In addition, Dr. Themeli is a Professor of Economics at Fordham University, teaching courses in African Economic Development, Law and Economics, Business Statistics, Ethics and Economics, Corporate Social Responsibility and Poverty Alleviation, Project Monitoring and Evaluation (Ateneo University, Philippines), and Economics of Emerging Markets (University of Pretoria, South Africa). He also serves as the coordinator of the collaboration agreement between Fordham University and the University of Pretoria in South Africa. Under this collaboration agreement, Dr. Themeli coordinates and leads various student and faculty exchange and study abroad programs between the two universities, both at undergraduate and graduate levels. He received his MA (Economics) from Western Illinois University (USA), M Com from Rhodes University (South Africa); and PhD from Fordham University. During his studies, Dr. Themeli was the recipient of the prestigious Fulbright and Rockefeller Fellowships. Prior to Fordham, he taught at both the University of Cape Town (South Africa) and at Rhodes University (South Africa). His research focuses on Public Enterprise Restructuring, Privatization, Public Policy Issues, Labor Markets, Ethics, and Impact Investing as well as African Economic Development. Over the years, Dr. Themeli has been a consultant at non-governmental organizations and private sector institutions in Africa and the United States. His primary residence is currently in New York but his family home remains in Ngwenani, South Africa. Dr. Themeli travels to South Africa an average of eight times each year.
Kevin Travis
Treasurer, Infinite Family International
Kevin Travis is an Executive Vice-President at Curinos, where he is a senior client officer, advising large banks in the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada on issues of expansion and revenue growth, including new market entry, new distribution strategies, network optimization, and customer segmentation. Prior to joining Curinos, Mr. Travis lived and worked in Johannesburg, South Africa as a Resident Vice-President at Citibank. From 1996 to 2000, he was part of the team responsible for growing Citibank’s new office from 40 to 400 employees across multiple business lines. In his role, he became very familiar with the political, economic, and social issues facing South Africa, and more broadly Southern and Eastern Africa. He has traveled widely in Africa and is a frequent visitor to the continent. He also co-founded a digital financial aggregator in 2000 where he served as Chief Strategy Officer. Kevin is an early-phase investor and board member at Energicity Corp, the largest solar mini-grid utility in West Africa. Kevin holds a BA in History and French from Tufts University and attended the College of Law in London. He lives in Vermont, where he recently bought and renovated an old inn and is turning it into the best small wedding venue in New England.
Amy Conrad Stokes, Founder and CEO,
Infinite Family and Infinite Family, South Africa
“If the relationship is the motivation for attracting a child to a caring adult, then it’s also the inspiration for getting that child to invest in themselves, to learn the skills to do whatever they need to create their own opportunities in the future.”
When Infinite Family’s Founder and CEO, Amy Stokes, traveled to South Africa to meet her son in 2003, her thoughts were about his future and the joy of adding to her own family through adoption. She and her husband, Chris, always planned a family enriched by adoption, and selected South Africa because of the overwhelming number of children there orphaned by AIDS. During the journey, Amy experienced first-hand the devastation of HIV/AIDS on families, communities and the traditional extended-family way of life.
Seeing all of the unattended young children, she wondered at the absence of young adults compared to number of teens, children and babies. “I wondered what life would be like for these children – what the future would hold for them. Any one of them could have been my own son. I thought ‘If very few of the adults you care about has lived past 35, then why would you think you can? Why would you stay in school; why would you learn skills you might need later on, especially when you can’t imagine later on?’ With so many children and so few adults to help them grow up, I knew we had to find a way to bring new information, resources and the caring, nurturing effect of other adults into their lives.”
That way became Infinite Family, a video mentoring program that harnesses the untapped resource of adults worldwide to mentor pre-teens and teens over the Internet. Founded by Amy in 2006, Infinite Family has built and operated computer labs at partner organization sites in rural and urban areas in South Africa. In addition to providing mentors for children, the interactive Ezomndeni Net mentoring platform created by Infinite Family helps them develop critical language and technology skills, while working with mentors on the program’s five core skill areas towards self-reliance.
More than 600 teens and pre-teens have already benefitted from Infinite Family’s video mentoring program, but Amy says, “We’re really just getting started. Our growth over the next few years will more than double the number of kids we can serve.”
Amy has spent more than 20 years working in all areas of business planning, start-up and ongoing management. She started her professional career as part of Andersen’s Consulting Strategic Services team in Chicago, then San Francisco. She learned the power of mentoring from teens at Studio Air, the youth venture she started as a subsidiary of Shorebank Corporation. Since founding Infinite Family, Amy has committed her career to extending the organization’s powerful video mentoring relationships to children anywhere who need an additional caring adult in their lives to build the confidence, skills and global perspective that promote success.
Amy was graduated from Kalamazoo College magna cum laude with a B.A. degree in economics (Honors) and French and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. She and her husband live in New York with their three children.
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Sanele Buthelezi, Mentoring Support Specialist, South Africa
“Because of all I learned through Infinite Family’s mentoring program, I see myself as a proud young man of South Africa with my whole life ahead of me.”
Sanele Buthelezi describes his role as Mentoring Support Specialist with Infinite Family as “coming full circle” in his life. As one of Infinite Family’s pioneer Net Buddies, Sanele brings valued first-hand experience with video mentoring and its impact on youth achievement to his work every day. His understanding of technology and familiarity with Infinite Family’s video mentoring platform help ensure that mentors and Net Buddies are able to make the most out of their weekly video conversations together.
A young entrepreneur and self-proclaimed “ideas guy”, Sanele’s motivation to do well in life goes hand-in-hand with a commitment to be of service to others. He credits his video mentor with helping build the bridge of hopes and dreams in his life, and for teaching him the importance of hard work to making them a reality. Along with facilitating the mentor-Net Buddy experience as a Mentor Support Specialist, Sanele is passionate about using social media to communicate the issues affecting young adults in South Africa today, and to engaging Infinite Family and its audience in the dialogue. He’s inspired by the youth in Infinite Family’s program and is happiest just hanging out with them on a Saturday afternoon.
Sanele is a graduate of United Church School and has studied marketing at the Institution of Marketing Management. An avid reader of philosophy and outdoorsman, Sanele has participated in fundraising challenges to summit Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania and Aconcagua Mountain in Argentina.
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Millicent Khumalo, Mentoring Support Specialist, South Africa
“Our teens need to understand what it means to become self-reliant, and that they are planting the seeds of the future with every action they take today. “
Millicent (Milly) Khumalo joined Infinite Family in 2009 as a pioneer Net Fundi (mentoring site facilitator) at Tsogang Sechaba Community Project. As an Extended Public Works Program (EPWP) volunteer, Millicent’s strong work with the orphan and vulnerable children and families at Tsohang Sechaba earned her recognition from management, who recommended her for Infinite Family’s first Net Fundi position. Her role then was to make sure that the video chats between mentors and Net Buddies ran according to schedule, to conduct home and school visits for Net Buddies, and to communicate issues about Net Buddies’ circumstances and home environments to Infinite Family and its video mentors.
In 2012, Millicent was promoted to Mentoring Support Specialist with Infinite Family. Among the responsibilities of her role are monitoring video conferences, making sure that Net Buddies and mentors are present for their VCs, working with Net Fundis at Infinite Family’s mentoring sites to optimize support of the mentoring relationship and office administration. She describes her role as Mentor Support Specialist as “a perfect way to build on her connection with youth in the community, and to continue guiding them to become their best selves.” She loves training new Net Buddies and watching them grow more confident in themselves through mentoring.
Millicent holds a Computer Literacy Certificate (Wits) and Call Center Certificate (Cornerstone), and lives in Johannesburg with her grandmother, siblings, cousins and two sons.
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Zoleka Petse, Deputy Director of Programs, South Africa
“Madiba put it best when he said ‘There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children. Individuals, corporations, NGO’s and governments – we all have role to play in ensuring all children have a chance at a better life.”
Zoleka Petse joined Infinite Family in 2009, and serves as its Deputy Director of Programs. As a qualified social worker, Zoleka brings several years of experience as an advocate for children’s rights and responsibilities in both the government and NGO sectors. Zoleka’s career-long commitment to issues affecting children in need of care includes important roles in educating communities about children’s rights and helping establish the Protocol for Child Protection Services for the Eastern Cape Province.
A veteran community organizer, Zoleka worked with the Gauteng Provincial government to mobilize community networks of support for children and families affected by HIV and AIDS. Along with her professional expertise in Social Work, Zoleka is experienced in management, office procedures and training.
Zoleka describes her role as Deputy Director of Programs as “the mouthpiece of all things Infinite Family in South Africa.” In short: Zoleka drives it all. She coordinates all aspects and activities pertaining to Infinite Family’s video mentoring program in South Africa, including: managing Infinite Family staff, liaising with the NGO host or school partners, representing Infinite Family to corporate partners and government officials, training of children, support staff and mentoring site facilitators (Net Fundis), and liaising with relevant stakeholders on issues affecting mentees.
Zoleka is passionate about South Africa’s youth and has dedicated her career to helping improve the condition of children most in need. She views Infinite Family as cool, modern and needed intervention that uses technology to help teens at risk of falling through the cracks get the guidance they need to set – and surpass – their goals.
Zoleka holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Social Work from then University of Transkei (now Walter Sisulu University), a diploma in Project Management from Training and Management College and a certificate in Employee Assistance Program from the University of Pretoria.
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Christina Potsane, Mentoring Support Specialist, South Africa
“Infinite Family is a part of me, and I see myself as an example to other young women. I want them to know they have a voice in their own futures, and that having a mentor can help them to find it. THEN, I want them to shout out loud!”
Christina (Chrissy) Potsane has been a member of Infinite Family since its launch in 2006 when she was one of the first Net Buddies to be matched with a video mentor at Nkosi’s Haven. She describes her current role as Mentor Support Specialist with Infinite Family as “an amazing opportunity to help teens develop the confidence they need to really take on their futures.”
Prior to becoming a Mentor Support Specialist, Chrissy worked as a Program Assistant with Infinite Family, where she monitored video chats between Net Buddies and Mentors, engaged with the Net Fundis at the mentoring sites, and handled administrative responsibilities in support of the mentoring relationships. Along with insight and compassion for the challenges facing youth in the communities where it works, as the longest standing employee of Infinite Family, Christina brings valued perspective and institutional knowledge to her role with mentors, host partners and Net Buddies.
Christina is motivated by the role that young people can play in shaping the future of South Africa, and to raising awareness about the opportunities and responsibility that youth have to work towards a better life for all South Africans. She is especially passionate about the challenges facing girls and young women in the communities where Infinite Family works, and the importance of mentoring to empowering them. She’s proud of the distance she and her fellow Net Buddy alumni have come since they helped pilot video mentoring with Infinite Family, and inspired by every single Net Buddy who begins the mentoring journey!
Christina holds a CPR Certificate with Emergency Medical Services (EMS), a parenting Certificate with Child and Family Unit, and a Computer Literacy Certificate from Wits. As a professional ballroom dancer with FEDANSA (Federation of Dance Sport SA), she has also worked at UCS School as a dance instructor.
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The idea for Infinite Family was born three days after Amy Stokes and her husband arrived in South Africa to adopt their son from an orphanage near Johannesburg.
The year was 2003. It was less than a decade after the end of apartheid, and South Africa was at the epicenter of the HIV/AIDS pandemic that had already left more parents dead and children orphaned than any other place in the world. The images of so many children filled her mind: they were the hope of the new South Africa – its promise and bright future. Without the love and protection of parents or family to guide them, she knew these children would not be able to move themselves beyond the poverty and violence that surrounded them.
Infinite Family brings skills and a new perspective of the wider world
to teens and pre-teens half a world away.
Founded in 2006, Infinite Family is a global mentoring organization dedicated to using technology to allow adults around the world share their experience and expertise where there are not enough local role models. Our volunteer Video Mentors help their mentees build resilience, resourcefulness and responsibility as they work toward economic stability and self-reliance. By providing such key resources and support networks, Infinite Family inspires and motivates teens and pre-teens to develop the confidence, skills and global worldview to build a better life. Read the full story (pdf file)
With dedicated mentors in their lives, Infinite Family’s Net Buddy mentees are transforming their lives by creating new lifelong opportunities as a result of their choices, actions and hard work during high school. After exceeding all expectations as teens, our Net Buddy mentees carry forward confidence, initiative and persistence to overcome the challenges they face as First Generation college/university students and then members of the Fourth Industrial Revolution workplace. On the other end of the connection, Infinite Family mentors report a uniquely inspiring experience that inform their global perspective and enriches their cross-cultural understanding.
Connect, Communicate, Create a Better Life
Infinite Family motivates black South African teens growing up amid township poverty and violence via real-time video mentoring to transform their lives by creating opportunities thru choices, actions and hard work during secondary school.
Through computers and the Internet, Video Mentors fill the void as “one supportive adult” when local adults are not available to support teens in turning toxic stress into lifetime resilience and strength.
Infinite Family envisions an Africa transformed by its youth, whose self-reliance leads to a better life and a stronger society.
Infinite Family’s Mission is to promote self-reliance—to augment what’s taught in the classroom and the home to help develop resilient, responsible, and resourceful students as they prepare for their lives as young adults and beyond.
Infinite Family brings additional role models, technology, and educational resources into the lives of South African teens. Infinite Family mentors help the Net Buddies build skills in five vital impact areas: communication, education, career preparation, technology literacy, and life skills. School becomes an area of their lives where their actions make a difference in a positive way, one of the few places where good decisions reduce uncertainty in their favor. Exposure to a broader range of adult experiences introduces new insights and alternative perspectives that motivate teens to make better decisions and create new opportunities, namely obtaining a tertiary education and qualifications that improve their economic situations.
Infinite Family engages teens in their own skills development processes by providing:
Access to laptops and internet connectivity via our LaunchPads (the name we have given to our computer labs),
Resources via our online platform the Ezomndeni Net (Ezomndeni is isiZulu for “everything related to family”), and
Mentoring relationships that guide and inspire hard work and skills development even in difficult times.
Video mentoring builds on the transformation that teens are naturally experiencing as they evolve from children to adults, motivating and inspiring them to invest in themselves at this critical time in ways that will pay off to build better futures. We acknowledge that teens act increasingly independent and many will only perform successfully – in school or work – if self-motivated to do so. Video mentoring provides a supportive voice of experience, understanding, and suggestions at regular touch points along the way.
By taking charge of components of their daily lives and learning how they affect their long-term circumstances, teens learn critical life skills and, over time, begin to act with a future-focused mindset. Eventually, they understand that it is their responsibility to obtain the education and skills that result in a job delivering self-reliance and economic stability.
“She helped me to be self-reliant. Indeed, I believe because of my Infinite Family mentor I succeed beyond my expectations.”
~ Net Buddy Anathi
LaunchPads
Infinite Family’s Net Buddies do homework, conduct research, and attend video mentoring sessions in our LaunchPad computer labs that resemble the real-world workplace. LaunchPads are clean, quiet, brightly lit, and safe. They are designed to inspire and encourage teens to get their work done. There are privacy booths for video mentoring sessions and open workstations for teens to do research and homework. Infinite Family maintains and updates the laptops our Net Buddies use, as well as access to high-speed internet connections via three (3) South African corporate partners. In addition, our students are surrounded by visual aids that simplify critical rules and guides in English and math.
The Ezomndeni Net
Infinite Family’s Ezomndeni Net (aka “EZNet”) is our safe, secure online platform through which Net Buddies communicate with their Video Mentors, staff and each other.
As we learn from our Net Buddies and Video Mentors what they need to keep building skills, we add them to the EZNet’s Resource area for access by all members at any time. Current resources include:
Bursary database | Career video library | Steps to Self-Reliance curricula | SA School curricula (all grades/subjects) | Practice for Matric exams | 100+ digital books for English as a Second Language (“ESL”) | Video Mentor training material | Health & Safety materials
Relationships
According to the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, “The single most common factor for children who develop resilience is at least one stable and committed relationship with a supportive parent, caregiver, or other adult.”
The primary source of support for Net Buddies is their relationship with their Video Mentor, through their weekly video conversations (VCs). Having the individual attention of a caring adult who lives outside their community provides a wealth of support they may otherwise be unable to access:
Shared experience and expertise related to careers and life that encourages and motivates them to tackle daily, weekly and ongoing challenges;
Validation that they matter and can succeed;
Trusted source of advice and guidance in communities where asking parents personal questions is not culturally acceptable, and who won’t “share their business” throughout the community;
Opportunity to improve English by simultaneously seeing, hearing, speaking, reading and writing it in a relaxed, unpressured, and fun manner; and
Someone who knows them well and can see the signs when they may need additional support.
Video Mentors help teens to build skills and develop habits that are beneficial in the work world. The first being an improvement in their ability to communicate effectively in English, which has a rapid impact on their performance in class: As their understanding improves, so does their school work and they begin to participate in class. This inevitably results in more positive attention from their teachers and creates a positive cycle where the student’s self-directed actions deliver improved results, build confidence and create momentum to continue.
One of the most liberating realizations for Black South African teens is that successful adults aren’t born knowing how to succeed or given the secrets along the way – that to be successful, most adults have to work very hard for a very long time, they stumble repeatedly, and often fail more than once. It is also reassuring for many Black South African teens to realize that they are not unique in their early life challenges and to see others who have overcome adversity, not in a glamorous stroke of lucky success but through step-by-step, day after day, year after year planning, goal setting, and hard work. When they hear stories of how their Video Mentors overcame hardships or bounced back from mistakes, they realize that they too can do the same, step by step.
This is the moment that changes the rest of their lives: achieving a Bachelor’s or Diploma qualification on their matric exam, after being told countless times they could not do so, they now know that if they work hard and with persistence, they can achieve or obtain what others say they cannot.
This earned success is what sticks with them through the trials and challenges they will face as they fight for their tertiary qualifications and they are more likely to eventually succeed when so many other first generation college and university students do not finish their post-secondary studies. Theirs will not be a straight path. But our alumni already know this and they have the resilience, resourcefulness and responsibility to push through, because they know that is what it takes for most people, everywhere to succeed.
Programme Evaluation
A critical part of our programme model is the monthly Net Buddy Performance Report. Fulfilling the required performance activities reinforces good habits, hard skills, and the attributes and values that our Net Buddy mentees are developing with their Video Mentors in preparation for the 21st-century workplace. More information about the Net Buddy
Mariam Sarrafan, Program Coordinator, Mentors & Mentorship Resources
Amy Conrad Stokes, Founder and CEO,
Sanele Buthelezi, Mentoring Support Specialist, South Africa
Millicent Khumalo, Mentoring Support Specialist, South Africa
Zoleka Petse, Deputy Director of Programs, South Africa
Christina Potsane, Mentoring Support Specialist, South Africa
With dedicated mentors in their lives, Infinite Family’s Net Buddy mentees are transforming their lives by creating new lifelong opportunities as a result of their choices, actions and hard work during high school. After exceeding all expectations as teens, our Net Buddy mentees carry forward confidence, initiative and persistence to overcome the challenges they face as First Generation college/university students and then members of the Fourth Industrial Revolution workplace. On the other end of the connection, Infinite Family mentors report a uniquely inspiring experience that inform their global perspective and enriches their cross-cultural understanding.
