Luisa Sofie Faßbender
A couple of months ago, I had the pleasure of speaking with the women from BabesGotBytes with Olivier Dobberkau. Our conversation took place over the course of an hour via Skype.
For those of you who don’t know about BabesGotBytes, let me introduce them to you: BabesGotBytes is an organization founded by Amanda Gxagxa, Phindiwe Nqanqaru, and Lihle Menzeleleli—three women from Cape Town, South Africa. They got involved in the TYPO3 universe after meeting several TYPO3 delegates at the CMS Africa Summit in 2018.
The main goal of their organization is to introduce young women in rural areas of Africa to the world of web development and enable them to build careers in tech. While several coding programs already exist in South Africa, they’re mainly located in big cities and inaccessible to the girls who live in small townships. BabesGotBytes is located in Cape Town and brings their courses into the Eastern Cape. The Eastern Cape is a developing area and most girls who live there haven’t had the same level of access to web development as their counterparts in countries like China or those of the EU.
BabesGotBytes wants to empower fellow South African women and help them find a place in the male-dominated tech sector. Not only do they teach the girls the basics of coding; they also inform them of the variety of career options in the tech sector, and help the girls build up their self-confidence. BabesGotBytes holds the no-fee classes during the girls’ free time, working with the equipment on hand. One of their challenges has been teaching on old computers with slow wifi connections. To assist them in their mission, the TYPO3 Association and several individuals from the TYPO3 Community have begun sending regular donations in the form of hardware and monetary aid. We’ve also been maintaining close contact with their organization throughout the Coronavirus pandemic. You can keep up with BabesGotBytes through their website.
Amanda, Phindie, and Lihle are truly outstanding young women who deserve a whole lot of respect for everything they do in their quest to help and enable others. They are not just teachers; they are also friends, confidants, and role models to the young girls.
