Seartec School of the Month for February: Missouri Laan Secondary

Eldorado Park is situated next to Soweto in Johannesburg, and has a many schools in the area. One school that stands out to Seartec, proud distributor of Sharp, is the no fee school Missouri Laan secondary. The only no fee school in the area. The school has approximately 1500 learners from grade 8 to 12.

When Astrid – the dedicated single parent of three children two of whom attend the school – approached us about a donation for the school, Seartec jumped at the opportunity to make a difference in these learners lives. 40 Grade 11 learners each received a brand new SHARP EL-W535HT scientific calculator to help them through the last two tough years of high school.

And these students do have it tough! Their parents are struggling to find work, make ends meet and look after their children. Drugs are apparently rife in the area, and load shedding seems to happen for seven hours a day! Despite these trying circumstances, the dedicated students and teachers push on through all of these difficulties in order for these learners to get the education they need to make this country a better place to live in.

After visiting Missouri Laan Secondary and meeting some of the students I left inspired and challenged! If students and parents (because Astrid overcame these very same circumstances – and now helps community members herself) can beat these challenges, so can we! We can do better, we do have resources. Let’s use what we have and what we have access to, to create a better South Africa.

As I always tell my students, “baby steps”. One step at a time, break down the problem, overcome each small challenge and before you know it, the whole problem is solved!

This school inspired us at Seartec and this is why we decided to help them to achieve more by providing the Grade 11 learners with Sharp scientific calculators. We hope you too will be motivated to take some “baby steps” of your own as Astrid and the learners from Missouri Laan Secondary inspire you.