To assist the family’s difficult financial situation, Sibusisiwe’s elder brother dropped out of school and became a casual labourer, carrying out menial jobs in the nearby villagers’ fields. Despite her brother doing this, they can barely make ends meet daily. As a result, Sibusisiwe would sometimes go a few days without any food, and she was unable to consistently go to school, as her school fees were often not paid. However, the times when she was able to go back to school, which wasn’t very often, she did not have any stationery supplies, textbooks, school uniforms or even sanitary wear. As a result of all these challenges, Sibusisiwe did not dream much about her future, as she was not sure of what her future entailed.
After meeting Sibusisiwe’s teachers at her school, we found out that she was intelligent, despite her grades being average, due to her missing numerous days of school. Nonetheless, Sibusisiwe’s teachers all believe in her and with enough support, they are confident that she has the potential to greatly improve her grades over time.
Through our holistic support provided to Sibusisiwe, we were able to remove all of her barriers, allowing her to go to school and continue with her education. Our health check examinations carried out, identified a few health issues that Sibusisiwe had. From this analysis, we were able to address all of her health issues, and thankfully, she is now perfectly healthy. Sibusisiwe’s family now has peace of mind, knowing that Sibusisiwe needs are taken care of by the Catalyst Foundation.
Having been part of the S.H.E Programme for a few years now, Sibusisiwe has transformed into a more confident young women, and is motivated to complete her studies with flying colours. Once she finishes her secondary schooling Sibusisiwe has dreams of going to university to become a Teacher.
We asked Sibusisiwe to share with us in one sentence what the
Catalyst Foundation – S.H.E Programme means to her:
“Receiving food hampers from the Catalyst Foundation gives me lots of energy to do well in the classroom!”