Lume DEI School of Autism is now my family

"On August 29, 2023, we had a great time with these kids at Lume DEI School of Autism in Middleburg." These children, like those in our mainstream schools, need to be fluent in coding. What a fantastic experience with BOATS and TANKS coding." I spoke these things with joy and great honor since Ms Angel encouraged me to come and explain Coding to her school Lume DEI School of Autism.

"I've been watching your coding posts on social media until I got your contact information so that I can invite you to our school,"Ms Lethabo Ntsoane remarked during our WhatsApp conversation.

I'm thrilled to have begun this adventure of influencing this community through coding and robots. I had an incredible experience with these kids; I expected it to be challenging, but they were enthusiastic and engaged during the two sessions of Boats and Tanks Coding lessons.

On April 2nd, Autism Awareness Month chose a very hopeful theme: "Transforming the narrative: Contributions at home, at work, in the arts, and in policymaking." I must admit that I was unaware of it due to my lack of knowledge regarding the disease. Despite the fact that we only have a few Special Schools in our department, I have always wanted to work with and have considered resources that appear to be limited.

Now I know that Coding Apps for Boats, Rangers, and Tanks are a great place to start for any child, regardless of their condition. Tangible Africa made it possible for us to not leave any child behind because they deserve to be fluent in coding.

Teachers in all of our special needs schools will be prioritized as I prepare my next steps in coding courses. I now have the confidence and experience to achieve more. 

I was particularly pleased to plant the first tree with the Principal Leilanie Rossouw , who is also the Founder of Lume DEI School of Autism, as a sign of our children's protection against climate change. The tree will subsequently be replanted on the site where the school will soon be erected.

Today's girls are tomorrow's techwomen mentors

We shall assess our success when today's girls become tomorrow's techwomen mentors. Since the DigiGirlz Initiative was founded in the Mpumalanga ICT Club in 2018, this has been our journey. Ms Nomusa Keninda, the club's founder, is sharing a stage today with the five members of the African Girls Can Code Initiative at Mapala Combined School in Phake Village, Dr. JS Moroka Municipality. 

"We couldn't miss August 8th to celebrate Women's Day with 60 girls attending the DigiGirlz workshop here at Phake Village," Ms Keninda said.

This year marks the 5th year of the DigiGirlz Initiative, and the Mpumalanga ICT Club decided to share the date with Mapala Combined School, however other girls came from adjacent schools to participate in the session. The purpose of conducting the workshop here is to provide a platform for AGCCI members who just completed the AGCCI Coding Bootcamp in Polokwane to share their experiences and lessons learnt from the two-week bootcamp with other girls.

"I am overjoyed to hear and see the level of empowerment displayed by these young girls as they share their stories."

Each of them chose a topic from the list that they learned during the bootcamp, and with passion, enthusiasm, and confidence, they ensured that they carried us back to the coding bootcamp with imagination. Climate change, project time management, and programming languages were all freely discussed. 

"We want to be like them, and we promise this is just the beginning," Bianca Maraka said shortly after her presentation, referring to the ladies who came to coach and advise them during the Polokwane bootcamp. 

This event is also a wake-up call for the girls who joined today. They learned about having a positive personal brand and how to cultivate it beyond school and into the workplace. The majority of these girls are in grades 8 and 9, and we hope they will make the correct decisions for their future education and training.

Scratch Coding PLC Launched

The Mpumalanga ICT Club and the University of Johannesburg Creative Coding collaborated to launch the Scratch Coding PLC on August 2nd at the Villa Roma Hotel in Witbank with the theme: Strengthening our Indigenous Knowledge Systems through Coding.

Thirty teachers from the Nkangala Education District attended the event, with some traveling from Pankop village in the Dr.JS Moroka Municipality. "The main goal of this Professional Learning Community is to demystify coding and ensure that teachers build confidence when teaching coding and robotics in their classrooms, as well as to facilitate the establishment of coding and robotics clubs in their schools," said Nomusa Keninda, the founder of the Mpumalanga ICT Club and the project's initiator.

The University of Johannesburg also sponsored the event with three presenters who presented their experiences with scratch coding, as the faculty has built a creative coding that teaches teachers to Scratch coding ideas in a fun and pleasant approach, referring to their participants as "Buddies."

"At UJ, we believe in teamwork, and creative coding is driven by four pillars: Passion, Projects, Peers, and Play; teachers are encouraged to use their creativity when teaching coding," stated Kiyara Bellochun.

The PLC will promote Indigenous Knowledge Systems that are anchored in our cultural values through coding. The majority of the scratch projects, such as games, animations, and narrative telling, should highlight South Africa's cultural variety, including Africa. "We have our own unique stories and games in Africa that have gone untold because development begins somewhere and we simply copy what other nations have already started, but in this session we want to cultivate critical thinking and creativity that take into account our indigenous knowledge systems, which is why we chose this theme." Ms Keninda claimed. 

With Scratch projects, teachers produced, shared, and learned from one another.  "We created a game of scoring penalties in a soccer game using the Scratch platform, we knew very well how spectators in South Africa do and shout during penalties and our game showed that cultural aspect of the game." Ms Betty Mpina explained the project. 

These projects were distributed to participants in order for them to be replicated in their schools. The PLC will meet soon to check on their progress, as they have committed to hosting various Coding seminars in respective circuits.