Install laptop lab for 500 South African students

Dear Friends:

Well, the last t has been crossed and the last i has been dotted. The computer lab is now UP & running, and everyone is over-the-moon. I cannot begin to describe what this means to the learners, the educators, and the principal in this rural and desperately poor region of South Africa. Never, in their wildest dreams, would they ever have imagined that their school would have state-of-the-art laptops, Internet, and a software curriculum that parallels the South African government curriculum and allows for individual pace and mastery.

None of this would have happened with you, and now, because of you, some 500+ children feel hope, pride, and a real sense that they matter.

Most of the children in this school come from informal settlements, farms, or townships. They face challenging conditions at home, from no water and electricity to extreme cold in the winter and extreme heat in the summer. Universal Promise chose to focus on transforming schools to empower the learners to change their own lives – to get an education so that one day their circumstances and their children’s circumstances will be much different.

Now, thanks to empathetic people, including all of you, these same learners head off to school in proper school uniforms, study in newly renovated and decorated classrooms, use restrooms that actually work, drink clean water from our eco-friendly water system, play soccer using fine equipment and FIFA-style goal posts, eat food from a fully-renovated kitchen, and, at last, put their hands on a computer that will allow them to learn at their own pace and be part of the future.

I believe that there comes a point in our lives when we decide either to dedicate ourselves to uplifting others or to turn the other way. I am overcome by your decision to step UP to help these 500+ learners who now celebrate their school, walk with pride, beam with their newfound skills, and know that their facilities are - for once - as good as or even better than those of children who have historically enjoyed far greater economic privileges.

Change happens. Please take some time to look at the photos and click on the link to see these "tech-struck" children and their teachers turn a corner and, we hope, never look back.

If you would like to support another Universal Promise project on GlobalGiving, please click this link: Rugby & Soccer Upgrade. We will welcome you with open arms. 

With gratitude and respect,

Martha (Nobuntu) Cummings
Executive Director
Universal Promise

Links:

• Computer Lab (video)