This week, being the Twitter addict I am, I was pointed to a great article by my friend Mike Sharman. It sparked a #SAis trend. Today sees the Super 14 final and the British Lions start their tour on South Africa. And when wanting to go out and join my friends and watch the games together, I do get a little sad, as so many of them have moved away from South Africa, for whatever reason.
Sure, some reasons are justified, but living in South Africa is just too good. I am involved in the running of Penguin Tutoring, where we place student tutors with children who are battling at school. Each and every day, we have enquiries from parents wanting to seek out assistance to help their children excel. That includes parents with lots of money, and those with very little.
In all of our placements, as the relationship between tutor and learner builds, I like to read through the progress reports that come through from our tutors. If ever you want a bit of feel-good reading, that is it. Just yesterday I heard of a child going from 30 to 70% in their maths after only 5 hours of tutoring!
The fact remains, though, that so many bright children in South Africa do not have the privilege of getting a thorough education, and being able to pursue the careers they deserve. I believe we have the potential to correct this though.
We have launched a project with the I Am Changing The World Foundation, where we are actively approaching corporates to sponsor children, schools, or classes, and have our tutoring system manage the placement and process, and give reporting out publicly on the successes I know will happen.
We also run a “Children in Need” project, where we sponsor learners desperate for tutoring, but cannot afford this luxury.
So I agree with Simon Dingle, Rian van der Merwe and the most of South Africa. #SAis incredible. We just need to keep unifying our efforts, and start looking to our youngest generation and giving them the tools and skills to make it even better!
If you are a corporate or even want to offer some of your personal time to this effort, please email me at murray[at]penguintutoring.co.za.
