The Sustainable Future Project

Partially-sighted Nthabiseng had to deal with adversity all her life. Having lost both her parents at a young age, Nthabiseng was sent to live with her grandmother, and later her aunt. Tragedy struck again when Nthabiseng’s eyesight began to deteriorate at the age of seven. To make matters worse, Nthabiseng was coping with emotional abuse at home. Eventually, one of her teachers helped her get a place at a boarding school for children with visual impairments.

At the boarding school, Nthabiseng fell pregnant and told us that her pregnancy was very tough. She said, "The father of my baby was unemployed and my family was just angry at me. My brother was addicted to nyaope and would fight us for money. I would sometimes sleep without eating and I would struggle for transport money to go for check-ups,”. At age 16, she gave birth to her daughter Rethabile, who was born with albinism and glaucoma (a condition that affects eyesight). In grade 11, she had to drop out of school because she feared leaving her young daughter alone at home with her family.

Joining Afrika Tikkun’s Arekopaneng center, gave Nthabiseng a beacon of hope for herself and her daughter. With the help of Afrika Tikkun’s Empowerment Program, Nthabiseng started sexual education training and became a qualified peer educator. “Being a peer educator was a great opportunity, because I speak to teenagers and motivate them to not drop out of school like I did, and to be aware of the social issues around them”, said Nthabiseng, who now spreads her message nationally. She appeared on YO.TV during Child Protection Week in May 2016, to share own life experience and to encourage other young people to make smart choices about their lives. Afrika Tikkun’s Empowerment Program enables children, youth and their families to actively pursue their human rights, working together as agents for positive change within their homes, community and country. We are proud of Nthabiseng for the progress she has made in changing her life and of those around her.

Click HERE to watch Nthabiseng share her inspiring story!

Nthabiseng is grateful for the help that Afrika Tikkun has given her and she hopes to ‘pay it forward’ by using the opportunities given to her to help her community. She is planning to take the initiative of introducing sports for people with disabilities at Afrika Tikkun's center and is working hard to make a better future for herself and her daughter. Inspired from her story, one of our donors is sponsoring Nthabiseng to help her complete her education.

On behalf of our 20,000+ beneficiaries, we would like to thank you for your ongoing support in empowering young girls like Nthabiseng. With your help, we hope to mobilize young people in South Africa to overcome the myriad of challenges they face in their communities and effectively break the cycle of poverty for themselves and their families.