To be turning 90 seems unreal. It’s a very long time, and if I think back on the many ups and downs, the difficulties we’ve been through as a nation, it’s quite amazing to be writing this at all. The past year has been brutal. So many families have been […]

The persistence of young South Africans like Langa should be an inspiration far outside of his community. Like many young people, life events interrupted his education but haven’t interrupted his becoming a self-reliant, responsible young man. Raised in a single-parent home with five siblings, he worked hard in school and […]

Siyabonga’s rural high school did not offer what he needed to pass his final exams and fulfill his dream to become an engineer. He could have accepted that result and joined the more than 90% of his peers who don’t go to college. But instead, helped by his Video Mentor, […]

People don’t realize it, but living in poverty includes lots of daily math. For example, how many trips to the community faucet does it take to hand wash one load of laundry? For Elsina, the answer used to be 9: 3 trips to fill the basin to wash, 3 trips […]

Half of South African teens drop out of school before 12th grade. Monyane expected to be one of them. He felt he should work to help support his family. Then maybe his mom wouldn’t have to find shoes for him and his siblings at the local dump. No matter how […]

Covid-19 just keeps taking more from South Africa’s teens. After a brutal 2020 that included ever-present food scarcity and the loss of months and months of learning, universities are now cutting enrollment due to slashed budgets. Even in the best of times, only 14 in every 100 South African students […]