Project 1: Containers into Classrooms - South Africa

We teamed up with Impact Africa to convert a shipping container into a classroom for preschoolers living in the remote villages of Kwaggafontein, South Africa. The insulated container stays warm in winter and cool in summer, making it cost-efficient and comfortable all year round.

Thanks to the support of our giving community, 1000 children aged 2-6 years old will now have a proper classroom where their growing minds and aspirations can be nurtured. Previously due to lack of transport and poverty, these children would have to walk 2-3 miles one way to reach a place where they could be educated. Often these makeshift schools would happen under a tree, on the dirt ground and at the whims of the elements.

Impact Africa has an ingenious way of transforming old shipping containers into purpose-built classrooms that are fully portable and sustainable.  Through converting a shipping container into a classroom we can provide a learning environment that is conducive to educating children and breaking the cycle of poverty in a country where it is estimated that 4.7 million people are illiterate.

We target preschool and kindergarten aged children because research has found that an individual’s capacity to learn has already been established by the age of 4 years, and thus if children can access learning opportunities by this age, they have 60% more of a chance that they will not drop out of school later in life. We want these children to be inspired to beat the odds, get an education and break the cycle of poverty and illiteracy.