EMariswe’s Nurture A Girl Beneficiaries at Thembinkosi LSEN School Continue to Thrive
The Nurture a Girl (NAG) Bryanston team visited Thembinkosi LSEN School in Tembisa to review the progress of our Nurture A Girl beneficiaries and the impact of our support.
We are proud to share that our nine NAG beneficiaries, guided by Sewing teacher Mrs Mgaga and fellow learners, produced 50 Mariswe-branded bags. These will be used for monthly toiletries collections. Mariswe provided the material, sewing machines and embroidery machine. To build entrepreneurship skills, each girl was assigned tasks suited to her strengths—from cutting and sewing to adding zips and ironing. Despite a long process due to school commitments, the final results were excellent.
Feedback from our East London beneficiaries has been overwhelmingly positive—the bags are durable, high-quality, and large enough to hold toiletries for 3–6 months. They will also help reduce plastic use.
We were pleased to see thriving vegetables in the greenhouse donated by Mariswe. The school now sells the produce to the community and staff, using the income to buy new seeds—successfully running the garden independently, as intended.
Beyond learner support, we also donated microwaves and dough mixers to the school kitchen. Microwaves were placed in classrooms to help reduce lunchtime queues.
Although NAG focuses on girls, we also extended support to boys’ programmes by donating gardening tools, car wash equipment and supplies. This exposure helps learners understand real-world work and responsibility. The carpentry and car wash teams were grateful for new safety boots and overalls.
We further enriched the programme by introducing flower arranging, where learners created wedding bouquets and flower gift boxes. Through initiatives such as sewing, gardening and the car wash project, Mariswe continues to instill entrepreneurship skills and help learners reinvest their earnings.
We value Thembinkosi School’s commitment to identifying learner strengths and supporting our NAG goals. As Helen Keller said, “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” Together, we are improving the quality of life for Thembinkosi learners and building a truly win-win programme.
