Nthabiseng Sefara née Mphela spent most of the hard socioeconomic lockdown crisscrossing the ghost-like City to pilot an initiative tailored to bridge the digital divide while feeding scores of hungry children in the Inner City.
Sefara’s #NoChildLeftBehind initiative provides learning materials to digitally deprived schoolchildren as a means of closing the information and digital divide among three Johannesburg Social Housing Company (JOSHCO) projects in the Inner City.
Sefara, who is the Marketing and Communications Manager at JOSHCO, says the City entity has partnered with the Boswa Foundation, a non-profit organisation to ensure #NoChildLeftBehind during the lockdown.
She says the initiative aims to provide educational aids and food to 790 pupils between Grade R and Grade 3 in all 18 JOSHCO projects. Most of the beneficiaries live in the Inner City, where JOSHCO provides quality and affordable housing to households in the low-income bracket.
She urges corporates and City officials to support the initiative and ensure it reaches thousands of other economically marginalised children across Joburg.
“A lot of children lost opportunities to access a daily meal and decent education when schools closed down during the lockdown. The #NoChildLeftBehind initiative supports these learners by providing a printed workbook, stationery, and some nutrition to keep them going during the lockdown,” she explains.
Sefara joined the City in November 2011. She hails from Ga-Rankuwa, north-west of Tshwane and says her compassion for the underprivileged is what sparked her into action. Establishing #NoChildLeftBehind with her colleagues was also ignited by the need to help disadvantaged children access remote learning platforms, to ensure positive academic outcomes.
“Our beneficiaries find the #NoChildLeftBehind programme very helpful because it demonstrates that the City cares about its citizenry beyond just collecting revenue,” she says.
Sefara notes that the campaign has no assigned budget, however, learning material is donated by various organisations “interested in supporting the dream to build A World-Class African City”.
“Our plan is to reach a large number of individuals who find it difficult to make ends meet across Joburg. We hope corporates can intervene and help children in the Inner City live better lives.”
Sefara is also an advocate for victims of gender based violence and substance abuse. “Society needs to eradicate and address socioeconomic ills to ensure a better quality of life for all,” she says.
Visit the Boswa Foundation webpage on www.boswafoundation.africa; alternatively, email nthabisengm@joshco.co.za to contribute to the work of #NoChildLeftBehind.
Written by Gontse ‘Gee’ Hlophe