Bokamoso education Trust: Help keep Nthabiseng in school

Bokamoso Education Trust provides the necessary financial support through a crowd funding concept. From as little as R200 a month, a donor can rally together 16 friends, each of whom contributes R200 a month via direct debit. Together, the 17 donors will help to educate one child. The total (R3 400 per month) pays for a child’s education.

In addition to this, Bokamoso takes a further step to motivate and encourage the kids to improve academically and help to develop them into future leaders through mentorship.

The mentors make a profound impact on the future of the kids by giving only an hour of their time once a week to talk, share their experiences, and listen to the kids.

Bokamoso recently received a letter from one of the mentors requesting assistance to raise money to help keep one of the girls, Nthabiseng Malematja in school. Here’s what she had to say:

I have the privilege of mentoring this amazing young lady who takes on responsibility and life in such a grown up yet youthful way. She is beautiful inside and out and really wants to make a success of herself, but she needs financial help. From as little as a debit order of R100pm would come a long way in helping pay for Nthabiseng’s fees.

Nthabiseng Malematja

Nthabiseng, age 14 (Grade 9) is from Mpumalanga and has had an opportunity to be supported to attend Vuleka (private school in Randburg) with the help of the Bokamoso Education Fund for the past 2 years (74/B grade average across her subjects). Due to unfortunate circumstances, Nthabiseng and her mom need to relocate. This means that on a financial level, her mom is going to have more expenses than her current sponsored logging. She said the thought of having to move back to Mpumulanga is very overwhelming for her and she would do anything to stay at a good school in Joburg. She understands that she will have a better standard of education if she remains in a private school and she wants the best future for herself.

The Bokamoso team has up to date found the funding for her to be educated in private school. They organised her a place at Bishop Bavin, a wonderful Christian boarding school in Bedfordview that is beautiful in many ways. I had the opportunity to take her there and it’s a gorgeous boarding school to say the least! (See feature picture).

The headmaster is a wonderful man who has maternal staff running the boarding houses and the standard of education is phenomenal. With the school being very small, there is a great aspect of nurturing and focus on individual needs. Unfortunately with all these great things, there comes a cost which we are appealing not only to Nthabiseng’s current Bokamoso donors, but also to you, the general public. The headmaster has agreed for us to pay what was paid to Vuleka in terms of the school fees, and has asked for an amount to cover the costs of her boarding for the year.

So we are looking to raise R3, 500 per month for boarding and R3, 400 per month for her school fees. If everyone could put a small amount together every month I am very hopeful that we can achieve this. In terms of uniforms, extra-murals etc., that would be over and above these costs. As an example – if we can get 24 people to donate R200 per month Nthabiseng has a much brighter future. Even a R100pm would be a great help in getting us one step closer.

Nthabiseng is incredibly bright with so much potential, and it would be a sad to see her give this all up to go back. To contribute to making this dream a reality for Nthabiseng, please visit Bokamoso Education Trust website or contact Bokamoso CEO, Cathrine du Toit on cathrine@bokamosotrust.org.za.