Matrics Wear it on Their Sleeves

With a 1740-mile-long coastline, that stretches from the Atlantic in Namibia to the Indian Ocean in Mozambique; its savannah, deserts, mountains; its 11 official languages and its vast social inequities; South Africa really is a world in one country.  

That’s been exemplified again this week by the sudden arrival in Johannesburg (of not just scores of international delegates to the latest, contentious BRICS conference) but also of summer! For this week at least, our Infinite Family members in Joburg seem to have bypassed Spring, while our Cape Town family is still confronting cold and driving rain.

Yet, regardless of the weather, our Net Buddies everywhere are delighted with the bright and beautiful, red hooded sweatshirts our Infinite Family sponsored and – rain or shine – they’re being worn with pride. Especially by the Grade 12 students who have earned a special Matric logo stitched onto their sleeve. Bucking the almost 60% dropout rate and staying in school through 12^th grade is a major milestone for our teens. Thank you, again, for a gift that is keeping our Net Buddies feeling warm and inspired on the outside and – just as importantly - on the inside!  

Spring Showers Bring - Studies!

The change of season also signifies a switch-up at school, as our Net Buddies start the long and intense climb to their year-end exams in November. Right now, our Matric learners are preparing for “prelims” and, for many young South Africans, this is crunch time, when they are most likely to drop out – or get “advised” out - of school. Even with Infinite Family’s interventions, we lose 8% of the teens on our program between Grades 9 and 12.  That’s a stunning and scary stat but set it against the national drop-out rate of 59% (yes, you read that right) and it tells you all you need to know about how your involvement in our projects is making a life-changing difference to keeping teens in school.  

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

Click here to see the Mentorship and Member Anniversaries we celebrate in August.

Thank you for being our Infinite Family

"Never wish you were someone else because there are people out there envying you for who you are."     ~Net Buddy Scelo