DigiGirlz Workshop, a Powerful weapon for girls' Dreams

DigiGirlz Workshop that was recently hosted by the Mpumalanga ICT Club Founder, Ms Nomusa Keninda on the 13 August at Nkangala TVET College, -Witbank Campus, I would say "It was empowering, fun, amazing work and brings hope to the nation and a powerful weapon for girls' dreams" as the saying goes "When you educate a woman, you educate a nation."

The DigiGirlz Workshop is a program that aims to encourage young girls to pursue STEM subjects in school and learn coding and robotics. Attendees of the workshop make connections with young female professionals in STEM fields in order to encourage them to study Math and Science.

"When I was a young girl, I did many household chores such as fetching water far from the river and gathering wood for fire because I grew up in a small village in Limpopo... but I did well in Mathematics and Science and received a bursary to study Bachelor of Science, Honours, MHSc, and PhD in Science, all of which I earned with distinctions. Dr. Edith Phalane informed the thirty girls attending the DigiGirlz workshop that she is now a Research Manager Specialist at the SAMRC/UJ Pan African Centre for Epidemics Research via a zoom platform during her motivational speech.

Suddenly, following Dr. Edith's address. The computer lab was filled with the girls' joy as a sign of confirmation for hope, dedication, and gratitude that they were fortunate to meet her because she rose from a humble beginning to her current position.

When one of the girls was asked about her overall impression of the DigiGirlz workshop on that day, she responded, "It was fun." "Yes, it has inspired me a great deal; today I learned that you can be successful even if you come from a poor background; I read a book about a poor family who struggled a great deal, but in the end, their lives turned out well. I would like to encourage young leaders to pursue their dreams and not give up because life is meaningless without them.

Sharon Khoza- STEM Facilitator

Sharon Khoza, a STEM and 4IR Facilitator from Siyafunda CTC in Midrand, came with her team to introduce the girls to coding using the Scratch platform. These girls were extremely fortunate to meet Sharon Khoza. She demonstrated how simple it is to create a game and animation using Scratch. This is what the girls said after creating their games successfully.

"Today's workshop was fantastic, I'm glad I learned something new, and I'm glad they taught us how to code, to create your own game, app, and story through the computer."

"It's incredible to know that even girls can do interesting things that boys can do; it's fascinating to know that we can do it"

"It's incredible that you have the chance to create your own music, games, animation, and other things. I am interested in animation production.

Ms. Florence Sibiya, a recently appointed unplugged coding evangelist at Nelson Mandela University, along with Dudu Mashinini, Glenda Maselesele, Andile Mahlangu, and Surprise Shai, Leva Foundation interns in Qheberha, assisted in introducing unplugged coding using the TANKS App to the DigiGirlz workshop. The girls were ecstatic to discover that they can even learn to code using the smartphones they carry.

Surprise, Andile, Glenda, Florence& Duduzile

The TANKS App coding program employs 31 puzzles created by Nelson Mandela University to teach students how to code. These are the identical puzzle pieces used by teams of learners during the Mandela Day event hosted by the Mpumalanga ICT CLUB at Witbank High School on 18 July 2022.

Ms. Nomusa Keninda is the founder of the Mpumalanga ICT Club and launched this DigiGirlz Workshop initiative in 2016. Since then, more than 2000 girls in the Nkangala District, Limpopo, Gauteng, and Cape Town have been introduced to this initiative through her networks.

Nomusa Keninda (observing the girls'projects)

Ms. Keninda stated, "There is still more work to be done, many girls are still in the dark about their career options, and some believe that there is an easy way to be successful because of what they see on TV soapies. I can't sleep at night knowing that there is a girl somewhere who is not dreaming of a STEM career." My goal is to reach out to more girls every day, not just during women's history month.