Equip African Teens to Succeed

South Africa’s annual matric results are in. We bet you are wondering, “What’s a matric?” In short, it’s a terrifying few weeks of exams at the end of 12^th grade that determines whether a South African student may continue their studies in college and learn the specialized knowledge and skills that lead to a good job -- or they are destined to toil in back-breaking labor for the rest of their lives with low pay and even less control. 2020 included the added stress of missing at least half of the year’s classroom teaching due to the pandemic. 

Waiting for results in a normal year, it’s not just our Net Buddies who are holding their breath and crossing their fingers. Hundreds of their Video Mentors and our Infinite Family around the world are doing the same, deeply invested in their futures too. 

Our Net Buddies’ hard work paid off with stunning success:  100% of our 12^th grade Net Buddies achieved marks that will allow them to advance to college/university and opportunities that excluded their parents. We could not be more proud of our Net Buddies’ achievement in the face of extra adversity!

And we could not be more thankful to you, our GlobalGiving donors. Your commitment and support strengthened our Net Buddies to remain resilient and resourceful throughout 2020’s difficulties, as well as, rise up and take responsibility for their performance despite the hurdles. We knew they could do it. Thanks to you, now they know it too!

Your support is also making another life-changing difference in our teens’ lives. As a result of the services you helped us provide, GlobalGiving awarded Infinite Family with a surprise $20,000 grant to “to support your organization’s relief efforts in response to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.” Your and GlobalGiving’s generosity is allowing Infinite Family to move quickly and expand the services we provide to post-high school young adults in township communities who are struggling to make the transition to college/university and good jobs. Stay tuned to hear about the exciting new programs that we are working to launch and how you can help. Thanks to you, 2021 will be the year new programs for South Africa's unemployed young adults move from plan to action! 

Links:

• Infinite Family website

Dear [donor name],

We apologize for not keeping you informed of the impact of your generous support during 2020. We prepared this report to be shared with you in mid-December. However, it has just come to our attention that due to our error using GlobalGiving's platform, it was filed incorrectly and thus not shared with you. We hope it brings you a long overdue smile and the knowledge that your decisions and actions continue to prepare South Africa's teens for school and life success. 

We are very happy to report that throughout a very difficult 2020, none of our Net Buddies or staff contracted Covid-19. Your ongoing support kept them informed and alert to be able to protect themselves and those around them in South Africa's densely packed townships.

In addition, all of our LaunchPads were open and active by October. You made it possible for our Net Buddies to get back to the important work of preparing for exams on the way to building better futures! Your encouragement and gifts kept our Net Buddies strong, smart and healthy by making sure they were nourished in body, mind and spirit. 

In addition to getting back to work, your gifts allowed us to make several important changes to the LaunchPads that will keep them safer and allow us to serve more students. Of course, all of the LaunchPads are now equipped with cleaning supplies that are refilled regularly. But we also began installing WIFI central points to allow our Net Buddies to work socially distanced in the fresh air outside.

Our first group of new Net Buddies has a jumpstart because so many are younger siblings of our Net Blazers. They were encouraged to become Net Buddies by their parents or guardians because they saw the positive impact these relationships had on their older siblings before and during the pandemic lockdown. 

Even though they have suffered the loss of critical school class time last year, our Net Buddies learned valuable skills they will use forever. Through your example and generosity, you have shown our teens that dark days are no reason to give up on their dreams and that, even in the worst of times, resilience, resourcefulness and responsibility make us stronger, as individuals and as a community.

Thank you for your continued support for our work building the skills and responsibility of South Africa’s teens to become self-reliant and successful adults.