Elevate Club Launched at Edenvale Village

(95 years old Gogo Makhotha's village)

Gogo Makhotha’s home can be described as a warm vibrant space for joy and connection. A haven of creativity that makes every corner to whisper “Free yourself, you are at Gogo Makhotha’s home”

Assisted by parents who accompanied their kids to their favourite spot on the 26^th December 2024. This gesture suggested that the wait was worth every day and the present moment blended by the sunny day was perfect for the event.

“Today we are here to celebrate the 3^rd anniversary of this event and to officially launch the Elevate Club, your club is here at Edenvale village”  stated the Chairperson of the Club,  Phumla Nkonde. She was talking to the community youngsters and their parents who gathered in the tent for the event. On behalf of the club executives, Phumele Jele,  serving as a Secretary and Nombulelo Zulu, a Treasurer, she invited everyone to support the club.

(Phumla- left and Phumele- Right)

The day was filled with three main activities: team  building activities, creative coding for the little ones and coding tournament using the Juicy Gems App created by Dutoit Agri in collaboration with Tangible Africa.

When the event finally started, everyone was ready to make his or her team proud in all the team building activities planned for the day.  It was confirmed by the their team names that they were ready to compete. Every child was afforded an opportunity to express his or her level of creativity including the little ones, who never minded the rules of the activities but were determined to finished the tasks given.

I once again observed their delight, curiosity as they handle the tablets.  You can tell from their tiny fingers all over the screens as they waited for instructions, indicating that this was their first time using tablets. Mostly completed the game with average to high scores of between 46 to 120. It was challenging to pick the correct answers from the Juicy Gems App question sections because the Dutoit Agri was about fruits farming and they were from livestock farming background. It was going to be easy to answer questions about Gogo Makhotha’s cattles or the late Magwazas’ sheeps. Magwaza was name given to the first farmer in this village and the farm is now owned by his son called Maniki.

The Mpumalanga ICT Club was instrumental in ensuring that this village establish it's own coding club and we acknowledged the support: firstly from Vuma Primary School in eMalahleni for the tablets, Nomzamo Makhotha wh managed to address the curiosity of these youngsters about drone technology and Nomusa Keninda for mentoring and coaching the Elevate Club executive members who are also Tangible Africa's interns and coding ambassadors. Lastly, we salute Gogo Makhotha for making her home, a source of  growth, hope and inspiration to elevate the community of Maserijini village.

DigiGirlz exploring the Aerospace and Defence Careers

The 60 DigiGirlz from Mapala Combined and Mabothe Secondary are here #AAD2024 Girls are having opportunities to interact with various professionals from the aviation fields, engineers, scientists, pilots from South African Air Force and US Air Force encouraging them to work hard on their studies.

They also get a chance to interact with various science exhibits such as robots, virtual reality, testing their maths and science proficiency at Scibono Discovery Stalls. Some tested the helicopter simulation skills. 

We take this time to thank the Aerospace and Defence  Youth Development Programme for inviting us and sponsoring the trip, principals and teachers of the two schools for their coordination.

DigiGirlz is an initiative aimed at empowering young girls to pursue STEM careers and connects girls with STEM professionals. #DigiGirlz Mpumalanga ICT CLUB #MIEExpert

Mandela Day Celebrated in Nkangala District

Mpumalanga ICT Club celebrated Mandela Day on 18 July at Edward Matyeka Primary with eMalahleni 2 and 3 circuits, and 205 learners took part in the Code4Mandela Challenge. The teams of five used their  21^st century skills such as creativity, critical thinking, collaboration and problem solving to reach the level 30 of the Rangers Coding App. The app has been developed by the Nelson Mandela University.

More than 100 children applauded their teams from the sidelines. Merlin Primary School won the honour of being number 1,  followed  by Johannes Kananda Primary School  at number 2,  Siphendulwe Primary School at number 3, and Edward Matyeka Primary School each earned medals and certificates.

“This was an exciting event, we included a Mandela song for  children to dance following coding instructions to demystify coding” said Nomusa Keninda, founder of the club.

The Code4Mandela Challenge is a coding tournament that is initiated by Nelson Mandela University with Tangible Africa and Leva Foundation in Gqeberha. The Mpumalanga ICT Club is hosting the coding challenge for the third time since 2022. It happens annually on the 18 July during the Mandela Day.

“Every year, we observe the growth and the love of coding from the kids and we are looking forward to seeing more kids and supporting efforts from business, communities and government since the coding and robotics curriculum  has been officially published for grade R-9”

This year, we also invited other Coding clubs in our district to join the Coding4mandela Challenge. These coding clubs have been established by the Mpumalanga ICT Club. They were produced by the Coding PLC. The love of coding is spreading in Mpumalanga.

 It was a wonderful afternoon that reminded us of our freedom fighters, particularly uTata Nelson Mandela. This younger generation listened intently as I told the narrative of Nelson Mandela, our first black president. #CodeForMandela #MandelaDay

10 years of the Mpumalanga ICT Club journey celebrated and honoured in a DigiGirlz Coding Bootcamp

What a great day to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Mpumalanga ICT Club and the sixth anniversary of the DigiGirlz Initiative. The event took place on May 12, 2024 at Nkangala TVET College's Witbank Campus. 

We were thrilled to see 60 girls arrive at the location as early as 7:30 a.m., full of interest and excitement about the DigiGirlz Coding Bootcamp and ready to celebrate with us. The DigiGirlz Coding Bootcamp was incredibly inspirational. 

We'd like to express our gratitude to Kholisile Khumalo, Sheena Satikge-Sibisi, and  Kiyara Bellochun for their collaboration. They inspired our DigiGirlz to believe in themselves as positive brands, to be determined to master new skills for the future, and to make success a trendy notion throughout their lives. 

The club was officially established in 2014 as a Professional Learning Community for educators, youth, and kids. In 2018, the club established DigiGirlz, a programme to support girls in STEM. During the bootcamp, major milestones were highlighted, as well as how the club received little local and worldwide attention:

✓ In 2018, as the club's founder, I was invited to attend the Dubai-based 365EduEvents in Durban and Cape Town to inspire teachers to launch digital literacy projects in schools. 

✓ In 2019, the club appeared on two international platforms, as I presented at the "Africa Play" conference, displaying the DigiGirlz Initiative. The Department of Basic Education held the conference at Menlo Square in Pretoria. Again, Microsoft picked me as a Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert and Fellow to attend the Global Education Exchange Summit, often known as E2 2019 in Paris, France.

✓ In 2020, I received the Inspiring Fifty Award for serving as a STEM role model for young girls. In addition,

✓ I received the Trailblazer Award from the Centre for Public Service and Innovation in 2021. The MEC for Education honoured the club once more in his budget and policy statement, and Honourable Bonakele Majuba named us  "coding pioneers"

✓ Two significant events deserve notice. First, last year, I participated in a five-week Techwomen exchange programme in San Francisco and Washington DC in the US with 104 young women emerging leaders from the Sub Saharan, Middle East and East Asia. 

✓Second, shortly after returning from San Francisco, I scoped the International Information Technology Professionals South Africa (IITPSA) Presidential Award for Social and Community Responsibility. 

✓ The story of the club and the DigiGirlz Initiative has been formally published at the University of Johannesburg Library.

On April 22nd, 2024, I received my Master's degree in ICT in Education from the University of Johannesburg. The title of the study: "Grade 8 and 9 girls' perception of coding and robotics in a DigiGirlz workshop in the Nkangala District" 

✓ In addition the DigiGirlz Initiative, has inspired many girls who opted to take up STEM subjects at school and pursue STEM careers like Nomzamo Makhotha, who was the first girl to join a DigiGirlz workshop in 2016 in grade 9 recently graduated on Bachelor of IT Software Development. 

During the Coding Bootcamp Camp, the girls participated in the introduction of the Octostudio Coding App to build projects relevant to difficulties like bullying, littering, adolescent pregnancy, and many others in their community and came up with solutions. These activities were done in line with the Scratch Day celebration. The session was led by Kiyara Bellochun, an Assistant Lecturer at the University of Johannesburg. 

The girls were lucky to connect with Kholisile Khumalo from the Aviation and Aerospace Youth Development Programme, who gave information about a new job opportunity in the South African Defence and Air Force that requires technologically competent youngsters. 

Ms. Sheena Satikge represents the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform, and Rural Development. Satikge is also a Techwomen Alumnae 2023, and we met on the US Techwomen trip. She discussed numerous initiatives and opportunities for girls funded by the US Embassy, including TechGirls, Technovation, and scholarships. She urged girls to step up and take part in STEM-related activities in their communities and schools. 

These had an opportunity to test their coding talents when Nomzamo Makhotha, Duduzile Mashinini and Glenda Mabaso took them to a Coding Mini Tournament using a Tangible Coding App called Rangers. One mixed school group came top by achieving level 28 within 25 minutes. 

We take this opportunity to recognise the positive contributions made by our teachers and presenters during the bootcamp. We also recognise the event's planners and sponsors, which include the Leva Foundation and Debonairs Pizza Downtown.

A beacon of hope to many young girls

Nomusa Keninda

The girl above has been fighting prejudices that define girls and women across color lines and geographical limits as belonging in the kitchen and not being capable of studying mathematics, science, and technology. She launched a DigiGirlz Initiative aiming at empowering young girls in STEM. 'Although I did not complete my Matric with Mathematics and Science, I did receive good results in Geography, Life Science, and English 2nd language as a result of my extreme hard work" 

My good results came from my second matriculation try(1989).  Thanks to my parents who encouraged me to return to the classroom after spending two years at home looking for a nursing college admission (1987&88)...

Today, I received a prestigious award as a symbol of hope to many young girls who are still shaping their dream careers.

The girl above, far right is Nomusa Keninda with her siblings. 

DigiGirlz Initiative aim to empower young girls into digital skills through coding, gives career guidance towards STEM careers and again connects the girls to high profile successful young female professionals. The DigiGirlz initiatives encourages girls to build their positive personal branding and gives Internet Safety awareness.

The initiative made the club to reach more than 180 girls per year and these girls come from grade 7, 8 and 9. It has gain popularity in many schools in Mpumalanga and Limpopo attracting schools to adopt the initiative as part of the schools' career days events.

In 2020, Ms. Keninda won an inspiring fifty for being a role model of young girls in STEM. The Centre for Public Service Innovation (CPSI) also recognized the DigiGirlz initiative as an innovative initiative. Ms. Nomusa Keninda won a Trail Blazer Award in 2021. Recently, Ms. Keninda, spent five weeks as a Techwomen Emerging Leader in San Francisco and Washington DC. 

Nancy Shiba Primary School joined Microsoft Minecraft Hour of Code

While many students were anticipating the last day of final exams on November 22, 2023, Nancy Shiba Primary School grade 5 and 6 students virtually participated in the Microsoft Africa Minecraft Hour of Code event to learn about Artificial Intelligence(AI) through the Minecraft Coding game and Scratch Coding.

Ms. Nomusa Keninda, eLearning Specialist and Founder of the Mpumalanga ICT Club, and Ms Samukelisiwe Hlomuka from J Kananda Primary School, an award winner for the ICT in Education with Ms Beyanca Struwig of Microsoft South Africa, carefully arranged the event. This event is part of the global celebration of the Hour of Code, in which learners are exposed to computer science education through the use of code.org resources to teach Coding and Robotics in schools.

“We were learning too, because AI is a new technology that is starting to affect all of us” according to Keninda. We discovered that AI still has many biases. In one of the exercises given, the AI robot did not recognize the diversity of learners who were receiving food from the AI robot, which was supposed to serve learners, because some learners were shorter and had darker complexion than what the AI was programmed to detect. During the exercises, students observed how to debug the AI software to accept diversity and inclusiveness.

 Samukelisiwe Hlomuka

When Ms Hlomuka inquired if they were familiar with the coding game, one child replied, “I know about Minecraft because I play it on my phone.” What was most intriguing about Minecraft in this session was that the learners were given the option to create their own game by coding it from start rather than consuming computer games.

Following the Minecraft AI class, learners had fun creating their own game using the Scratch Coding environment. The pleasure of having a tablet on their desks was demonstrated by their brave listening during the coding sessions as they followed instructions led by Keninda and Hlomuka. Other classes were taught by Glenda Maselesele and Duduzile Mashinini who are Tangible Africa coding evangelists.

Nomusa Keninda

“Since I came from America on a leadership and Mentorship program, I can see there is a lot of demand for learners to learn computer science, I can relate from what I learnt from San Francisco.” Keninda stated.

 Published by Witbank News on  01 December 2023