Lights on for Learners - Education Beats Poverty

Our lights distribution campaign is still going strong thanks to your generous contributions. Since our last report in June, we have been able to provide lights in the most remote regions of South Africa. We have been able to reach areas such as Platfontein, Northern Cape province and Nkandla in KwaZulu Natal province. Umzimvubu, Zululand and Diocese of Cape Town also received lights during this period.

The learners are especially affected by rolling blackouts because they attend extra classes and study at night. As more lights get distributed, we will keep you updated and hope that we can impact the lives of these grade 12 learners as they prepare for the school leaving exam.

South Africa is currently experiencing an energy crisis that have a detrimental impact on economy. The crisis has been coming along for quite a few years with no solution or end in sight. HOPE Africa together with Green Anglicans noticed the huge gap in results between matric learners of private institutions versus learners in ordinary public schools. We are extremely thankful to our contributors for providing lights for some of the communities that we targeted for the Lights on for Learners project. Through your generous support we managed to get closer to our goal of providing 100 lights to learners in each Diocese. Our Bishops, clergy and lay people were instrumental in arranging with school management in their respective communities for the relevant young people to receive the lights, emotional support as well as information regarding Gender Based Violence and Femicide. We are thankful to our Bishops for personally delivering the lights to the learners during their very busy work schedules. Schools that received lights were:

Pudumong Senior Secondary School, Pudimoe -120 lights delivered

Homevale Senior Secondary School, Kimberley - 120 lights delivered

St Mark’s Comprehensive High School, Limpopo - 125 lights delivered

Xolilizwe Senior Secondary School, Willowvale - 120 lights delivered

Sithoza Sen Secondary School, Bokleni Ngcobo - 120 lights to be delivered

Bokalobeng High School, Gannalaagte Village - 66 lights delivered

Ga-Khunwana High School, Khunwana Village - 51 lights delivered

Maruapula Senior Secondary School, Nyetse - 23 lights delivered

Leseli Secondary School, Mathopestad - 65 lights delivered