Empower Youth Through Education!

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A nonprofit fundraiser supporting

Africa Classroom Connection
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Help me to raise enough to build a classroom!

$7,650

raised by 14 people

$13,000 goal

Forty five years ago (1977!) I was a college student at Princeton University, doing a year abroad, studying at the University of Natal, in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. What a momentous year! In June of 1976, a series of student led riots had erupted in Soweto (Johannesburg). The students (all African) were protesting the Bantu Education system, which was designed to educate African students for the (inferior) jobs that would be available to them under the Apartheid system then in place in South Africa. Those riots were not only continuing (in the face of widespread government suppression, and the murder of hundreds of teenaged students who had been shot by the police), but also spreading across the country. On September 12th, 1977, Steven Biko, the founder of the Black Consciousness Movement, died in police custody, and the unrest increased dramatically. In October, the white South African government enacted a series of major crackdowns, banning national newspapers, writers, editors and organizations across the country. And on October 20th, I and a number of my fellow students organized a protest on the campus, and we were arrested by the Security Police.

To me, the most amazing thing as I look back on the 45 years since then is that education is still central to the struggle for improving lives in South Africa. Despite all of the changes that have taken place in that beautiful country, children are still fighting to obtain a quality education. 

Eshowe is a small town not all that far from Pietermaritzburg. It is very rural, very poor, and beautiful. It is also the home of the Eshowe Community Action Group (ECAG), which started building school classrooms for the poorest of its citizens at about the same time I was studying in Pietermaritzburg. ECAG started as a group of white businessmen and farmers (most were local Rotary Club members) who felt that the apartheid government’s educational policies towards Africans were misguided, and felt obligated to help. Since the founding of Africa Classroom Connection (ACC) in 2006, we have been partnering with ECAG do this necessary work.   

Working with ECAG means that we have a trusted, local partner to oversee the actual work of construction. They ensure that the local communities around each school will make a financial commitment to the classrooms, they hire locals to do the actual construction, and they act, with local government agencies, to ensure that all building is done to plan and to code. The classrooms are not fancy—cement slabs, cinderblock walls, tin roofs—but they are warm and dry, and the local government provides teachers, books and everything else that is needed. Every single classroom that has been built by ECAG is still in service, sheltering 40 or more students each year!

And they work. I have been to see these schools. The children are eager and enthusiastic learners, the teachers are committed and hard working, and together they are successful. Quite a few graduates go on to college and university, which is amazing, considering the adversity. For example, in a number of schools, close to 40% of the students are orphans, being raised by extended family members, because their parents have died in the HIV/AIDs epidemic that has ravaged South Africa. 

It is truly incredible how much our efforts to build schools means to the people of KwaZulu-Natal. ACC is making a tremendous difference in the lives of the people who live around Eshowe. Please help us to help even more people! Help Africa Classroom Connection build much-needed schools in rural KwaZulu-Natal province, South Africa, where the lasting effects of apartheid and the continued lack of public funds leave the kids in this area desperately underserved.

Your gift helps move learners into classrooms from underneath trees or from overcrowded, rudimentary structures. Classrooms provide a safe and dependable space that allows their learning to fully flourish. Our classrooms help kids stay in school, providing a reliable education and opportunity for a successful life ahead. Education is the key to future success and their pathway out of poverty.

That is why I have been so supportive of ACC for so long. I cannot tell you the pleasure I get from seeing the results of our efforts--seeing how much people value the classrooms we build. 

Africa Classroom Connection aims to raise $39,000 in this campaign to build 3 classrooms! These will serve 150 students each year for generations to come!

Since 2006, ACC has served over 42,000 kids by building 125+ classrooms through our successful self-help program. Just $13,000 funds a classroom. Our core principles of grassroots participation and co-investment guide the building of classrooms. Communities are eager for education, raising financial deposits of about 3% (significant to them), leveling land, and securing water needed for construction. ACC funds the rest.

Learn more on the ACC website


This fundraiser supports

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Africa Classroom Connection

Organized By Peter Maritz

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