Program by Biffy

Elizabeth (Biffy) Danchwerts, from the Rotary Club of Cape Town South Africa  Rotary Club was our guest speaker.  She presented a slide show about Isiphiwo Primary School.

Isiphiwo Primary is in the Harare section of the informal settlement of Khayelitsha. Serving an impoverished area with a high rate of unemployment, Isiphiwo struggles daily with the socio-economic difficulties associated with poverty. They realised that a way out of this cycle of poverty for their learners was to develop skills, such as IT skills, which are needed in the employment market.

Word of the work being done in neighbouring schools by the Khanya Project had reached the principal who then approached the Project with a view to being included. Khanya was impressed by the forward planning of the school who had already done the practical work of establishing a room for IT. Their lack of funding had, however, proved to be a major stumbling block and their project had not been able to progress any further.

With Khanya’s guidance and assistance, Isiphiwo now has a fully equipped, airconditioned and secured computer laboratory. The staff at the school realise the value of the technology to their curriculum delivery and are eagerly attending training sessions; preparing themselves to use the equipment to develop more interactive and relevant lessons. Educators and learners alike recognise the value of the skills that will be developed in this laboratory, both for now and for the future and they are grateful for the opportunity that has been afforded them by the Khanya Project. 

Isiphiwo Primary is determined to share their good fortune with the community and therefore intends using the facility to offer computer literacy courses in the evenings.

There are several projects they need help with:

• ·      New Computer Lab
• ·      Teacher Training
• ·      More books for the Library
• ·      Food Bank vehicles