I think of my child daily, but since the 8th anniversaries of Rachael’s death (June 14th) and her body being found in that tree (June 16th), I’ve been doing a lot of soul-searching. There is no doubt that by now, at 24 years of age, Rachael would be a fine young woman whose beauty touched many souls. And, though absolutely stunning, I don’t mean her physical beauty…

No, I mean Rachael’s soul which was beautiful and gentle and oh-so loving. Even at the tender age of 16, when most teens’ lives are ego-driven, Rachael’s thoughts were full of finding ways to help less-fortunate people and animals. She was already voicing how concerned she was about educational inequity…because of both financial and gender differences. Only about three months before her death, she shared with me that she wanted to advocate for girls’ education. In fact, we’d been supporting girls’ education for years; every Christmas, the children would donate some of their money, Dan and I would match it, and as a family we decided what charity to support that year. For many years, Rachael persuaded everyone to choose a charity that provided education to a child in Africa!

It was because of my daughter’s dream to help in this area that I joined a Tucson chapter of the Philanthropic Educational Organization (P.E.O.); this organization works to support the education (in the US) of girls and women. I felt that was a way I could continue to love, support, and honor my child. But now that Dan and I live in S. Africa, I’ve had another idea and am reaching out to friends and family to see if, together, we can honor Rachael in a different way (I’m still an active member of PEO and that won’t change). Basically, our goal is to hand-pick a couple of girls here in southern-eastern Africa and support them directly by paying for their education.

There are many levels of education here. The private American and British schools are extremely costly (about $30,000-$40,000 per year). Not only is this too expensive for what I’m hoping to do, but also if any change is to be permanent, it needs to be driven from within (and not from a ‘white saviour’ perspective!) Thus, I’ve been looking into the local schools as I think it’s imperative that any child we help is not taken from her family, culture, community or language.

The local (government) schools have three levels. All follow the national curriculum and are split into the levels based on local community income quintiles:

No-Fee Schools (Quintiles 1-3) which serve about 60% of learners are found in disadvantaged or lower-income areas.

Low-to-Mid-Fee Schools (Quintile 4) are partially state-funded; governing bodies charge supplementary school fees to maintain enhanced facilities, lower ratios, and extra staff. These costs typically run between $60 and $300 annually.

High-Fee Schools (Quintile 5) are found in wealthier suburbs. These costs run between $300 and $5,000 annually).

One of the problems with this system is that in S. Africa you can find what we used to call Shanty Towns (now called Informal Settlements ) down the road from, for example, Fourways Gardens which is the beautiful, secure area where we live. Some of these Informal Settlements are huge (e.g. Khayelitsha in Cape Town has an estimated population of over 2 million people). This, obviously, affects the Quintile system; and when the real unemployment rate (estimated to be 55-60%) is added to the equation, what results is a very flawed local/government educational system that leaves many parents unable to pay for their children’s educations…and that’s before we even begin to look at the quality of that education!

In order to alleviate some of this pressure, many private schools have emerged in the last few decades. These cost anywhere from $600 (lowest level ‘local’ private school) to $40,000 annually (world-class education, primarily for whites). A good, local private school costs around $1,000-$2,000 annually.

When Rachael died, Dan and I started a non-profit as I had big plans to speak to high-schoolers about suicide and help them find a different way of dealing with problems. But we quickly found out that we couldn’t do it as we were barely functioning and this non-profit was keeping our pain and grief at the forefront of our minds day after day, week after week, month after month, and even year after year. Getting involved with PEO certainly filled my need to ‘do something‘ but we still wanted to make a difference to some girls (and, through them, families) that we choose directly. This is how the idea of Rachael’s Girls arose; if we can support one or two girls’ education here in Africa, it would make a difference to those girls, it would make a difference to those families, and it would honor Rachael in a way I know she’d appreciate.

But we’ve hit a problem; although we already have a non-profit, and can easily re-write the goals to focus on education (especially as the vast majority of suicides are the result of poor education and poverty or addiction) but we can’t bring that money over to Africa to do what we want as that would be considered funneling (which is a form of money laundering). We can donate money from our non-profit to a non-profit out here…but that eliminates our ability to choose a recipient. If anyone reading this knows of someone who can figure out a way, please let me know. In the meantime, however, we’re stuck. Consequently, we can only ask for donations from friends and family; in other words, from people who know us well enough to know that every penny that’s donated will go toward paying for a girl’s education. To that end, we have a bank account in the UK and the US that can hold donations (whether people want to make one donation, a monthly donation, or anything in-between) but please know that there’s trust involved as these bank accounts are in our names! The good news (for us) about doing it this way is that we can pay the schools directly on our personal credit cards and pay the bill from our Rachael’s Girls account. Perhaps we can do something different when we’re in the US in October, but the school fees need to be paid before we leave here as, in Africa, December is the end of the school year. So, with crossed fingers, I’d like to introduce you to Gertrude and her parents as we would dearly love for Gertrude to be the first of Rachael’s Girls.

Even though 10 year-old Gertrude is the one who has to go to school and do the work, during my 40 years of teaching (especially in Kuwait, Zambia, and Borneo) I’ve learned that, without supportive parents, a child’s chances of educational success are minimal. Gertrude’s dad, Charles (S. African), is a school bus driver, and her mum, Bongie (Zimbabwean), is a cleaner. Up until a year ago, Charles and Bongie sent Gertrude to a BASA school; BASA schools are a group of independent, registered private schools in our area (Gauteng, S. Africa) that follow the national CAPS curriculum and emphasize strong foundational education in math, English, and computer literacy. Sadly, because of fees and cost-of-living increases, they had to pull Gertrude out of this private school and put her into a government school. BASA Riversands (the school closest to where Gertrude lives) costs R18,000 for Grade 6 (the grade Gertrude is going into in January 2027) which, with lab costs etc. included is around $1,300-$1,400 per year. One of Bongie’s favorite expressions when talking to Gertrude is “Books before boys,” as she’s adamant that Gertrude isn’t going to be one of the thousands of African women who find themselves stuck in abusive relationships because they have no way of supporting themselves.

Gertrude herself is absolutely delightful and is very serious for a 10 year-old. Her ambition is to do well in school and be successful so she can buy a two-story house for her family. She hopes to achieve this by becoming a teacher, a lawyer, or a pilot. Gertrude speaks Siswati, Zulu, and English. As is often seen in developing or poverty-stricken countries, Gertrude doesn’t take education for granted. I asked her to write me a paragraph telling me why she’d like to go back to her private school; this is what she wrote…

If we’re able to support Gertrude in her educational endeavors, I’d like to make the commitment for at least 2 years (to get her through elementary school). At that time, as long as Gertrude continues to be committed and motivated, we can consider supporting her through high school. Grades are important but in places like Africa, I think that the child’s (and parents’) commitment to education and their motivation to do their best is more important than having great grades. Luckily for us, however, Gertrude has it all! Below is her most current report card.

Please consider supporting us in this. We can set up a GoFundMe if people would be more comfortable with that…but are loathe to do so as there are fees involved and we’d rather see those fees spent on a child’s education. Please also consider asking some of your friends to donate; I promise that every penny donated will be used to pay for a little girl’s education. I’ll post receipts (from the schools) as tuitions are paid. If we get enough money to support another girl, I have a 9 year-old Malawian girl in mind, whose parents are working here in S. Africa so they can send money back to Malawi to send their child to school. We take so much for granted in the western world!

In order to donate, please contact me for the bank details. You can contact me through WhatsApp, email (Dr.Rhia@gmail.com), or text (from the US). If someone would like to make a donation but need it to be tax deductible, we’ll work on that when we’re in the US in October. Whether you donate or not, thank you for reading this post; and please know that emotional support is as necessary in making this endeavor a success as is financial support.

Rhia and Dan

In honor of Rachael Nia Anthis-Roberts (Nov 21, 2001-June 14, 2018)