RATP Group Foundation and BOC have been supporting Sizanani since 2013. Sizanani is a charity that encourages young people from under-privileged neighbourhoods with their studies and helps make their career aspirations real. BOC and RATP Group Foundation celebrated the charity’s tenth anniversary on 14 October alongside many of its beneficiaries.
Sizanani means “let’s help each other” in Sotho. For the last ten years the charity has been supporting students from under-privileged backgrounds in the Alexandra township in Johannesburg, close to the Gautrain line, the high-speed regional train service operated by RATP Dev subsidiary BOC.
RATP Group Foundation Secretary Florence Javoy and Arnaud Legrand, director of BOC and of RATP Dev South Africa, were invited to celebrate the anniversary. Florence Javoy used the occasion to outline the shared inspiration values conveyed and upheld jointly by the Foundation, RATP Group, BOC and Sizanani.
The Sizanani project is fully in line with the Foundation. It aims firstly to facilitate access to education for populations that may be at some distance from it. The aim is to encourage students from under-privileged neighbourhoods to improve their school results, help them find information about further education and support them in their career choices. Most of these young people are the first in their family to pass their school-leaving certificate and cannot always count on assistance from their parents.
In addition, mentors not only provide students with support, but also ensure easier access to culture (outings to the theatre, museums, cinema, etc., organised once a month) and to specific tools (such as computers and Internet access) which are not always within their grasp.
The charity epitomises the importance of BOC employees’ commitment, which originally prompted the project. Thirty-six employees have been committed as mentors in the charity for the past ten years. Five of them are also heavily involved in managing and coordinating Sizanani.
Caption (from left to right): Florence Javoy, RATP Group Foundation Secretary, Charles Masagela, a student and mentee, and Arnaud Legrand, Director of BOC and of South Africa for RATP Dev.