Bloomfield College students volunteer to support South African students

MAKHANDA, South Africa — During the uncertainty of the past two years, Inkululeko, a nonprofit organization based in South Africa, collaborated with volunteer university students based in the United States to support South African high school students through one of the world’s strictest COVID-19 induced lockdowns. 

More than a dozen students from Bloomfield College, the University of Michigan, Syracuse University and the University at Buffalo partnered with Inkululeko to provide tutoring instruction and academic support to Inkululeko’s students some 8,000 miles away. 

United States–based volunteer tutors attended training sessions to familiarize themselves with the guidelines for tutoring and to better understand the South African curriculum. Lessons were then created by U.S. students with South African input and guidance, recorded, and distributed via WhatsApp and other online platforms to students who were in lockdown and unable to attend school on a regular basis. 

“The tutoring program impacted me holistically in all aspects,” said Bloomfield College student Aurelio A. Soto, Inkululeko’s U.S. coordinator for remote learning. “I am now more confident, open-minded, organized and adept in public speaking. In presenting live with the tutors, I also learned of the language barriers … and found ways to mitigate and deal with (them thanks to) this newfound experience.”

“This is true scholarship in action,” Inkululeko CEO and founder Jason Torreano said. “Each community in the USA and in South Africa had a set of assets that was leveraged to serve our learners. U.S. college students had an opportunity to deeply engage in our work and collaborate with our colleagues in South Africa in a new way to serve our young people.”

  Bloomfield College