On Women’s Day we celebrate our team of strong, capable and visionary women who show up daily to transform under-resourced classrooms into centres of mathematical excellence, while tackling the topic of youth employment. With support for our Bridge Bursary fund, we can empower young women like Zintle Makumsha, who aspire to be teachers in their own right. Our “fun and fearless” team work in the field across four provinces as our programme continues to expand, and behind the scenes in the office. Our excellent squad comprises Nomta Ndola, Nobantu Mshumpela, Betty Oliphant, Daniella Lekgau, Ditiro Madiseng and Zintle Makumsha, who shares her story this month. Zintle is the daughter of two teachers and comes from a large family with conservative traditional values. She brings a gentle spirit of kindly curiosity to her work as Project Coordinator for our Mpumalanga and Ekurhuleni South projects. Where it all started I had my fair share of great and […]
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Nobantu Mshumpela: Finding the beauty of maths
On Youth Day it’s fitting to celebrate Nobantu Mshumpela, one of our own team members! This determined young woman started as a tutor on the JumpStart programme, and has since completed and expanded her qualifications to meet her new career challenges. Nobantu is a co-ordinator of the JumpStart Foundation’s Ekurhuleni South programme who has successfully transitioned from being a tutor into the world of meaningful work. She grew up in a large family in Katlehong, where education was highly valued. Her career journey started with studies in beauty therapy, but in 2017 as a JumpStart intern, she discovered how sharing the beauty of maths gave life a different kind of joy. Falling in love with maths In Grade 3 at Monde Primary our principal, Mrs Mbambela, was very passionate about mathematics. She introduced the exciting Maths 24 game, which was lots of fun. Four numbers were shown on flash cards and we had to arrive […]
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Ditiro Madiseng: Maths should be fun and fearless!
Last month we focused on Betty Oliphant, the first JumpStart staff member to be employed, back in 2011. She shared her recollections of the early days when she helped out as a receptionist in the JumpCO office. In those days, JumpStart was a tiny organisation and its founder was a solo pilot. The organisation has grown substantially over the years and so has the staff complement. The newest addition to the team, Ditiro Madiseng, was appointed in February as an Executive Assistant, helping the General Manager, Callen Hodgskiss, and Steve Mahony, our CEO. Ditiro talked about the formative elements that helped her become the woman she is now. From fine to fearful to fun! My first encounter with maths in primary school went well enough. I was an A or B+ student, but when I got to high school people seemed doubtful about my capacity to study maths and science. Unfortunately I believed this and […]
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Betty Oliphant’s 10 years with JumpStart
In every organisation there are unsung heroes behind the scenes. At JumpStart that person is Betty Oliphant, our office administrator. She is the person who plans, organises, orders, checks and double checks to ensure smooth running of our events and processes. In March this year at our annual strategy planning session, Betty received a long service award for ten years of loyal service. She was the very first staff member appointed to JumpStart, and her inspiring story this month includes her recollections of the project’s early days. Behind the scenes Betty is a force to be reckoned with, enabling JumpStart to honour the promises we make to our partners. With her involvement we are able to provide the training and support that promotes maths education in under-resourced foundation phase classrooms around the country. It follows that a good grasp of mathematics keeps the books balanced so that we can show funders how their money has […]
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