Dineo Phumo

Category
Education

Age
33

Organisation / Company
Barack Omari
Website

Profile

Dineo Phumo, 33, is a coordinator and tutor at Barack Omari, an organisation she founded. It provides after-school extra lessons for grades R to nine learners in semi-rural areas. Schools in these areas generally don’t have science and IT labs. The purpose is to build their understanding of schoolwork. One of the ways to achieve this is by introducing them to digital learning platforms such as YouTube where their school projects (grades five to nine) for technology and natural sciences can be learnt virtually. For the younger learners (grades R to four), the introduction to digital learning provides them with active learning, life skills and exposure, as well as access to more material to learn from. Dineo has a BA Humanities in psychology and has received awards for her leadership, including the Presidential Award from the Nelson Mandela Foundation. She is pushed to excellence by her memory of her grandmother, who raised 10 children without any formal education. “It is a lifetime of memories of watching her design and make anything from fabric, from a napkin to a wedding dress. My mind will forever be blown by that,” says Dineo. Through Barack Omari, she helps the learners through tutorials to improve their understanding of their school work and to prepare them for life beyond school because almost everything is now digitised. She is pushed to excellence by her memory of her grandmother, who raised 10 children without any formal education.

List your educational background - qualifications and institutions?

BA Humanities in psychology, University of Pretoria

Any awards or achievements in your field?

• Presidential Award from the Nelson Mandela Foundation under the leadership category
• Selected to represent South Africa at the Young African Leadership Initiative cohort 16

One childhood memory that has spurred you to such levels of achievement?

I was raised by my grandmother, and her excellence as a black woman with 10 children, without any formal education is a lifetime of memories of watching her design and make anything from fabric, from a napkin to a wedding dress. My mind will forever be blown by that.

Advice to your younger self?

To value the basics and then build and build and build from there.

What would you like South Africa to look like in five years?

Youthy, if that is even a word. The reason is that the youth have a vision of changing and evolving everything we know to date. There are no orthodox they hold on to, and that fluid and evolving way of living has improved our lives.