Pupils succeed against all odds

Schoolchildren of Carter Primary School in Alexandra, one of the largest underprivileged feeder community schools, were the outstanding pupils of the Tomorrow Trust Holiday School Programme.

Six out of the top 10 achievers in Grade 7 including the two top maths pupils and the student of the year were all part of the programme.

“It is difficult not to be moved by the learners within the programmes and the stories of how their lives changed,” said Kelly Brownell, a Vodacom Change the World volunteer at the Tomorrow Trust.

“I am so grateful for this opportunity to learn from them and the opportunity to show South Africans that we all have the capability to make a difference; that the responsibility to change our reality doesn’t lie with someone else, but with us.”

The trust is non-profit organisation that cares for orphaned and vulnerable youth from high schools in Alexandra, Thembisa, Soweto, Diepsloot and Daveyton.

Many of these youngsters live in extreme poverty, have lost their parents to HIV/Aids-related diseases or live in child-headed households.

Research by the trust revealed that previous academic results of these youth were poor and not indicative of their real potential. Their results prohibited them from accessing a post-secondary education.

To counter this, the trust provides a variety of programmes that enable these pupils to achieve their educational goals as part of an exit strategy from poverty.