Global mining engineering and project management group DRA's primary focus has always been on promoting education and skills development of previously disadvantaged people living in underprivileged communities. "A good education builds a strong foundation for the future, which is why we support educational initiatives at foundational, inter-mediate, high school and tertiary level," says Peculia Malevu, senior employee relations consultant at DRA "We like to fund initiatives where emphasis is placed on Maths, Science and English."
Collectively, the Foundation's initiatives benefit over 1,500 previously disadvantaged children every year in various ways including providing scholarships, extra tuition, teaching internships and more.
"In 2008, St John's College identified the need to promote excellence in English, Maths and Science among talented, previously disadvantaged boys from our low-income neighbouring communities," says St John's Foundation director, Pier Myburgh. "The boys in Grade 10, 11 and 12 attend their own government schools and then come to St John's in the afternoons, where they are taught Maths, Science, English, IT and Life Skills by St John's teachers."
During 2015, DRA contributed a monetary amount to the St John's Academy, which is part of the Foundation and plays a pivotal role in St John's social responsibility strategy. By offering a quality St John's education to deserving children, normally historically and financially precluded from the benefits of the prestigious school, it has a positive impact on their lives.
Last year saw Grade 11 Academy boys from Barnato Park High School - a financially disadvantaged public inner-city Johannesburg school - collaborate with Grade 11 St John's boys and win in a prestigious international science competition called the CERN Beam Line for Schools Competition. The team entered as Accelerate Africa. "They chose this name to show that students from different backgrounds, working together with a passion for science, could be an example of what science education in South Africa can achieve," says Myburgh.
The boys decided to embark on a project which looked at producing high-energy gamma rays using a crystalline undulator. Their proposal jointly won first place out of 119 other teams from 40 different countries and in September 2015 they travelled to CERN in Switzerland to conduct their experiment. "Their visit was most successful and resulted in the team being invited to submit a proposal to the CERN committee responsible for allocating beam time," Myburgh says.
If the boys' proposal is accepted, they will return to CERN independently of the competition and conduct other experiments. This will be an incredible achievement for the team since beam time is usually only available to well qualified and experienced scientists.
Malaika Motsoai and Professor Sihoyiyi are the two Barnato Park High School boys who entered the competition with the Accelerate Africa team. Until CERN they had never flown on an aeroplane or been exposed to the experience of travelling abroad in order to conduct experiments with the best in the world. Without funding from sponsors such as DRA, Motsoai and Sihoyiyi would not have enjoyed this incredible opportunity let alone have been discovered for their true potential. Now their future in the field of science is looking bright.
"This was the most incredible experience of my life. I found myself one morning at CERN eating breakfast with 23 PhDs. I felt so important that I thought I was also a PhD. I learnt that you can achieve anything you want, but you have to be dedicated and very hard working," Motsoai says.
"From the day we entered the laboratory and were welcomed into the team we were assured that this was going to be a big competition which required critical thinkers and a whole lot of intelligence to come up with creative and innovative ideas to produce the best proposal," Sihoyiyi comments.
These stories are the reason why DRA will continue to sponsor organisations the likes of the St John's Foundation because for every CSR rand spent another child can look forward to a future filled with opportunity and success.
"We are tremendously grateful to the sponsors who have enabled us to make such a marked difference in these children's lives. It is our duty and our privilege to play our part in helping these deserving young people become contributing members of our society and to strengthen our young democracy," Myburgh concludes.
