On Women’s Day in South Africa, we are very proud to share that Africa’s biggest bank has chosen the remarkable story of a Good Work Foundation (GWF) woman and hero to be part of its Prosper short film series, which shows its impact on the lives of people across the African continent – see the video below.
Deliwe Tibane is a single mother from rural Mpumalanga and, in 2012, willing to do anything to support her two young daughters, she was able to find part-time employment at a construction company on the outskirts of Hazyview.
Deliwe’s first building project was an old “barn conversion”. Londolozi’s nonprofit partner, GWF, in partnership with T-Systems South Africa, was converting a banana packing barn into a 21st Century digital learning campus, a dream that included an ambitious vision to reimagine learning in rural South Africa.
Having women work on building crews is not common in Hazyview, even today, but Deliwe says: “As a single mother I was willing to do even the hardest and most physically challenging jobs to protect and support my two children. There were just two women on the crew. It was hard, but we kept up.”
Fast-forward four years and, today, Deliwe is the receptionist and student accounts administrator at the Hazyview Digital Learning Campus (many visitors to Londolozi who have visited the Hazyview campus will have met her). She has completed IT and online hospitality courses, taught English and supported digital learning programmes for thousands of children.
More than anything else, Deliwe is part of a team that is reimagining learning in rural South Africa.
As Absa Bank put it on their website: “Through her journey of hard work, perseverance and determination, Deliwe has laid the foundations for her, her children and her community to prosper.”
About Good Work Foundation
Good Work Foundation (GWF) has been working with grassroots education in Africa since 2003. The mission of GWF is to uplift rural communities through access to world-class education and, to this end, GWF was one of the first organisations in Africa to bring tablet computing and learning apps to rural learners, and now, they are the only sub-Saharan organisation working with Stanford University on cloud-based learning.
GWF currently operates four digital learning campuses where each campus is made up of academies that deliver basic literacy and career training to school-aged and adult learners. Open Learning Academies focus on English literacy, math’s literacy, digital literacy and life skills for school-aged learners. Bridging Academies provide vocational skills courses and digital literacy tuition to adult learners. In all areas, and collaborating with strategic partners, GWF focuses on delivering digital curriculums, state-of-the-art facilities and expert tuition.
My heart sings!!!!
Congratulations Deliwe, on everything that you have accomplished! What a great role model you are for your daughters and I’m sure they must be very proud of their Mother. Thank you for sharing your life story and your beautiful singing with us! Happy Women’s Day to all the strong, determined women of South Africa!
awesome!
Thank you Jill. I will pass on your message and I look forward to the day that you meet Deliwe.
Me too Ryan, I can’t wait!
Deliwe – this is what inspires me – courage! – from a human being such as yourself!
Thank you!