Foundations·High school
Intro to CS
A gentle on-ramp into programming and problem-solving, taught by diaspora volunteers. No prior experience, no prerequisites — just curiosity and one hour of somebody's time.
A Southern African initiative · Rooted in hunhu · ubuntu
Sawubona. I see you.
Free technology education, taught by the diaspora — for young people back home.
Programs
Pick the path that excites you.
Every course is free, taught by volunteers who've done the work. Learners choose their own direction — from a one-hour intro to a full ten-week cohort.
Foundations·All learners
Web Design & Development
Build your first website and learn the craft behind it — HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and the real mechanics of shipping something online.
Creative·All learners
Game Development
Design and ship a playable game with a volunteer who's shipped games before. A favourite among younger learners.
AI / Data·Intermediate
Ethical AI & ML
From the basics of machine learning to the ethics of building it responsibly. A senior volunteer might drop in for just one hour, or stay the whole way through.
AI / Data·Intermediate
Data Science
Learn to ask good questions of data — statistics, Python, visualisation, and the judgement to know when the numbers are lying.
Robotics·All learners
Robotics
Embedded systems, sensors, and control — hosted with partner schools across Harare, Bulawayo, Jozi and Cape Town.
Mentorship·All learners
1:1 Mentorship
Matched with a diaspora engineer, researcher or founder who knows your name, reads your code, and shows up every week.
Founders·Aspiring founders
Founders Accelerator
A cohort-based programme for founders building out of Southern Africa. Sharpen the idea, build the pitch, and meet diaspora investors ready to back you.
How it works
It just takes showing up.
01
Someone shows up
A diaspora engineer signs up to teach. An hour, a month, or a whole cohort — whatever they can give.
02
A learner raises their hand
Young people across Southern Africa pick the topics that excite them. No fees, no gatekeeping.
03
We match and meet
We handle the pairing and scheduling. Sessions happen live, online — real people, real time.
04
The circle keeps turning
Learners become mentors. Mentees become founders. The next cohort is waiting on the other side.
1,420
Learners across Southern Africa
180
Diaspora volunteers, 14 countries
11
Founders funded out of Cohort 01
$0
Cost to every learner, always
Mentors
Brothers and sisters from the diaspora.
Engineers, researchers and founders who came up the hard way — now giving their hours to the next ones coming through.
Tendai Moyo
Senior Engineer · Google, NYC
Harare → NYC
Nomsa Dube
ML Research · DeepMind, London
Bulawayo → London
Sipho Nkosi
Staff Engineer · Stripe, SF
Jozi → SF
Chiedza Mapfumo
Founder · fintech alum, Nairobi
Mutare → Nairobi
Thabo Mahlangu
Game Developer · indie studio, Berlin
Cape Town → Berlin
Rumbi Chikore
Data Scientist · World Bank, DC
Gweru → DC
FAQ
Questions we get a lot.
It's a Zulu greeting — literally, "I see you." Not just acknowledged, but truly perceived. The reply is Yebo, sawubona — I see you too. It's the posture we try to bring to every learner, every mentor, every founder.
A Southern African philosophy — the belief that our humanity is bound together. I am because you are. It's the reason this whole thing works: people giving their time, freely, because the community is the thing.
Always. No tuition, no fees, no pay-if-you-get-a-job clauses. Volunteers give their time. Diaspora donors cover the infrastructure. Learners never pay a cent.
Young people across Southern Africa — high schoolers, university students, self-taught beginners. Some courses are open to everyone; more advanced tracks have light prerequisites so students are set up to succeed.
Sign up on the Volunteer page. An hour is enough to make a difference — introduce a class to ethical AI, walk a group through their first Python script, or take on a 1:1 mentee for six months. We handle the matching.
A 10-week cohort for aspiring founders building out of Southern Africa. Weekly reviews, mentor office hours, a demo day to diaspora investors, and warm intros for follow-on capital. Applications open twice a year.
Everywhere and nowhere. Volunteers are scattered across the US, UK, Europe and the Gulf. Learners are in Zimbabwe, South Africa, Zambia, Mozambique, Botswana and beyond. The internet is the classroom.
Get involved
Build with us, mentor, or fund a cohort.
For learners back home
Start learning, free.
Pick a course that excites you. Meet your volunteer teacher next week. Build the future you want, from wherever you are.
For the diaspora
Teach an hour.
One hour. One class. One student. Whatever you can give — we'll find a learner ready to receive it.
For founders & funders
Back a cohort.
Fund a class of founders, sponsor hardware for a chapter, or offer follow-on capital to alumni shipping real companies.